Let Me Into Pope Leo’s Letterboxd Account ASAP

Pope Leo (XIV, if you’re feeling fancy) is hosting a special audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace this weekend for an A-list crew of actors and filmmakers. Turns out, the only thing more surprising than a pope from Chicago is a pope who’s a cinephile!

According to a statement from the Vatican, the gathering aims to explore “the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values.” So basically, he saw the new Freaky Friday reboot and thought, we’ve got to get the human values back into cinema.

Ahead of the event, the Vatican even released a video of Pope Leo sharing his four favorite films, shot in the unmistakable cadence of a Letterboxd-style “Top 4” interview. His picks were It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), The Sound of Music (1965), Ordinary People (1980), and Life Is Beautiful (1997)—which he referred to by its correct title, La Vita è Bella (he is Italian now, after all).

If these favorites tell us anything, it’s that this pope’s got taste! And an appreciation for the classics. It’s also hilarious that the Vatican staged the clip exactly like a Letterboxd interview. But it does beg the question: is it possible the head of the Catholic Church has a burner Letterboxd account where he rates and reviews movies? And if so… I need to know what he rated Conclave.

While the Vatican has never hosted an event like this before, the late Pope Francis did invite Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon to an event at the Vatican in June 2024. Pope Francis was also much more of a cinephile than Leo, telling an Italian newspaper in 2013 that his three favorite films were Robert Rossellini’s Rome Open City (1945), Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (1963), and Federico Fellini’s La Strada (1954). So maybe Francis’s taste was a little more refined, but Leo’s picks feel undeniably American.

Confirmed attendees for the Pope’s function include actors like Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, and Chris Pine, as well as directors like Spike Lee, George Miller, and Gus Van Sant. And I get it! If I’d just become pope, I too would throw a party with all my favorite directors.

But yes, the Vatican needs to cut Letterboxd a check, and while we’re at it, Leo, let’s get you in the Criterion Closet next.

---