Pope Francis would like to have his own film archive set up in the Vatican.
He envisions a kind of media library for audiovisual heritage "of high religious, artistic and human standing," he says in a new interview book from which the newspaper "Il Messaggero" (Sunday) published excerpts in advance.
This film archive could be set up next to the Apostolic Library and Archive.
The head of the church owes his enthusiasm for films to his parents. According to Francis, they often took him and his siblings to the cinema. "For ten or twelve years I have seen every film with Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi, of which I particularly liked 'Rome, Open City' by Roberto Rosselini." For him and his peers, Italian neorealism was particularly intense Tragedy of the World War ”, said the eighty-four year old.
These films, continues Francis, “opened our eyes to a new look at reality”.
In view of the current world situation, especially with the pandemic, you urgently need to do this today.
According to the Pope, this works particularly well when a film takes the perspective of children, for example in “The Children Watch Us” by Vittorio De Sica from 1944.
The Argentinean is particularly fascinated by the films by Federico Fellini.
According to Francis, he managed to focus on people on the edge, those left behind.
Fellini's work “La Strada - The Song of the Road” from 1954 is his favorite film, also because it contains several implicit references to Francis of Assisi.
The interview is part of a new book by the Italian theologian and film expert Dario Vigano: "Lo sguardo: Porta del cuore" (The gaze: Door of the heart). It is coming out in Italy these days.