Martin Scorsese meets Pope Francis, to make another Jesus movie – reports
MANILA, Philippines – Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese privately met with Pope Francis and according to reports, will be making a new movie about Jesus Christ.
Scorsese was in Rome, Italy to attend the "The Global Aesthetics of the Catholic Imagination" organized by Jesuit publication La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University.
The director also has planned film screenings of his movies paired with works inspired by his own, a master class for film students, and a guest speaker appearance at the Cineteca di Bologna.
Prior to attending the conference last Saturday, Scorsese and his wife Helen Morris briefly met the Pope in a private visit to the Vatican.
"I have responded to the Pope's appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus," Scorsese said at the conference, according to reports. "And I'm about to start making it."
Thank you to Martin #Scorsese for accepting the invitation to join us of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University - along with his wife and daughter - in the meeting of 40 poets and writers from different Countries with #PopeFrancesco, who said among other things, "This is… pic.twitter.com/yG6bEyo2Wq
— Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro) May 27, 2023
The religious filmmaker previously directed the controversial 1988 movie "The Last Temptation of Christ" starring Willem Dafoe as Jesus, based on the equally controversial novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis.
The movie angered many devout Catholics and was banned for several years in numerous countries, including Pope Francis' native Argentina.
In 2016, Scorsese premiered at the Cannes Film Festival his film "Silence" starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson about the persecution of Jesuit Christians in 17th-century Japan.
Scorsese was reported to have discussed both movies at the conference, as well as his admiration for Pier Paolo Pasolini's "The Gospel According to St. Matthew."
Pope Francis is the first-ever Jesuit pope. At the most recent edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Scorsese premiered out of competition his latest movie "Killers of the Flower Moon."
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