The Pope Just Called for a Rebellion of the Real Led By Filmmakers

I did not have 'the Vatican goes to war with AI' on my 2025 bingo card

There is no question in my mind that the emotional, intellectual, and creative landscapes of human existence are under threat from AI and the tech companies that seek to further monetize what some might call our souls. The only way we can resist this is to reject the false, the unreal, the simulated realities that would turn us into nothing more than ones and zeroes in others’ get-richer schemes.

In fact, this is what my debut novel Psalms for the End of the World is about, at least in part.

Because of this fear I have and hope you share with me, I’ve decided to increasingly scream about the threat of the unreal here at 5AM StoryTalk. Recently, I invited digital rights activist Lizzie O’Shea to join me as a guest at the 5AM StoryTalk Podcast and this week cyborg anthropologist Amber Case discusses how to design a better future that prioritizes craft, beauty, and authenticity over profit.

What I didn’t expect was for Pope Leo XIV was going to join our crusade this week.

On Nov. 15th, Leo was joined at the Vatican by an eclectic group of filmmakers, actors, and executives to discuss the unique and crucial importance of cinema in confronting the world’s ills. If you’re a regular reader of 5AM StoryTalk, you know I view the movie theater as a holy place, a church, a way to communally worship the human experience rather than gods. Well, reading Leo’s speech, it’s hard not to feel the guy feels the same way…which is weird, because he’s supposed to be the Christian god’s emissary on Earth or something like that.

A major takeaway here: Leo seems to think filmmakers are more than just explorers of the human experience. They’re prophets of it.

But the human experience is flesh and blood, not ones and zeroes, and Leo knows the algorithm, that AI, that tech companies are determined to corrupt our civilization for profit. Whereas art was once created as a “product” for us to consume, we’re being turned into the “product” instead. From Elon Musk to Sam Altman, these people see our humanity as an impediment to their mansions on Mars.

Here’s a small part of Leo’s speech that’s worth noting:

The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what “works,” but art opens up what is possible. Not everything has to be immediate or predictable. Defend slowness when it serves a purpose, silence when it speaks and difference when evocative. Beauty is not just a means of escape; it is, above all, an invocation. When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console but challenges. It articulates the questions that dwell within us and sometimes even provokes tears that we did not know we needed to express.

If you read the rest of the pontiff’s speech below, you’ll find he is relentless in the power of cinema to help us understand our world and to inspire hope. You’ll also find he is relentless in his position that filmmakers are not doing nearly enough to defend their art form and, thus, their world from the threat of the unreal.

This is a beautiful, moving, inspiring speech for a cinephile like me, for someone who has spent the majority of his life trying to serve the moving image and, thus, humanity in some small way. We can change the world with our art and maybe cinema more than any other art form can do that…and Pope Leo XIV, of all people, is expecting us to take that responsibility seriously in a time of growing darkness and the rapid digital annihilation of the human spirit.

Note: I’ve placed the sections of Leo’s speech in bold that spoke to me the most and that I think might speak similarly to you.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Although cinema is now over a century old, it is still a young, dreamlike, and somewhat restless art form. It will soon celebrate its 130th anniversary, counting from the first public screening by the Lumière brothers in Paris on the 28th of December, 1895. From the outset, cinema was as a play of light and shadow, designed to amuse and impress. However, these visual effects soon succeeded in conveying much deeper realities, eventually becoming an expression of the desire to contemplate and understand life, to recount its greatness and fragility, and to portray the longing for infinity.

Dear friends, I am happy to greet and welcome you. I also express my gratitude for what cinema represents: a popular art in the noblest sense, intended for and accessible to all. It is wonderful to see that when the magic light of cinema illuminates the darkness, it simultaneously ignites the eyes of the soul. Indeed, cinema combines what appears to be mere entertainment with the narrative of the human person’s spiritual adventure. One of cinema’s most valuable contributions is helping audiences consider their own lives, look at the complexity of their experiences with new eyes, and examine the world as if for the first time. In doing so, they rediscover a portion of the hope that is essential for humanity to live to the fullest. I find comfort in the thought that cinema is not just moving pictures; it sets hope in motion.

Entering a cinema is like crossing a threshold. In the darkness and silence, vision becomes sharper, the heart opens up, and the mind becomes receptive to things not yet imagined. In reality, you know that your art form requires concentration. Through your productions, you connect with people who are looking for entertainment, as well as those who carry within their hearts a sense of restlessness and are looking for meaning, justice and beauty. We live in an age where digital screens are always on. There is a constant flow of information. However, cinema is much more than just a screen; it is an intersection of desires, memories, and questions. It is a sensory journey in which light pierces the darkness and words meet silence. As the plot unfolds, our mind is educated, our imagination broadens, and even pain can find new meaning.

Cultural facilities, such as cinemas and theaters, are the beating hearts of our communities because they contribute to making them more human. If a city is alive, it is thanks in part to its cultural spaces. We must inhabit these spaces and build relationships within them, day after day. Nonetheless, cinemas are experiencing a troubling decline, with many being removed from cities and neighborhoods. More than a few people are saying that the art of cinema and the cinematic experience are in danger. I urge institutions not to give up, but to cooperate in affirming the social and cultural value of this activity.

The logic of algorithms tends to repeat what “works,” but art opens up what is possible. Not everything has to be immediate or predictable. Defend slowness when it serves a purpose, silence when it speaks and difference when evocative. Beauty is not just a means of escape; it is, above all, an invocation. When cinema is authentic, it does not merely console but challenges. It articulates the questions that dwell within us and sometimes even provokes tears that we did not know we needed to express.

In this Jubilee Year, the Church invites us to journey towards hope. Your presence here from so many different countries, and your artistic work in particular, is a shining example. Like so many others who come to Rome from all over the world, you, too, are on a journey as pilgrims of the imagination, seekers of meaning, narrators of hope and heralds of humanity. Your journey is not measured in kilometers but in images, words, emotions, shared memories and collective desires. You navigate this pilgrimage into the mystery of human experience with a penetrating gaze that is capable of recognizing beauty even in the depths of pain and of discerning hope in the tragedy of violence and war.

The Church esteems you for your work with light and time, with faces and landscapes, with words and silence. Pope Saint Paul VI once spoke to artists, saying, “If you are friends of genuine art, you are our friends,” recalling that “this world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.” I wish to renew this friendship because cinema is a workshop of hope, a place where people can once again find themselves and their purpose.

Perhaps we could bear in mind the words of David W. Griffith, one of the great pioneers of the seventh art. He once said, “What the modern movie lacks is beauty, the beauty of the moving wind in the trees.” His reference to the wind cannot but remind us of a passage from John’s Gospel: “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In this regard, dear seasoned and novice filmmakers, I invite you to make cinema an art of the Spirit.

In the present era, there is a need for witnesses of hope, beauty, and truth. You can fulfill this role through your artistic work. Good cinema and those who create and star in it have the power to recover the authenticity of imagery in order to safeguard and promote human dignity. Do not be afraid to confront the world’s wounds. Violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, addiction, and forgotten wars are issues that need to be acknowledged and narrated. Good cinema does not exploit pain; it recognizes and explores it. This is what all the great directors have done. Giving voice to the complex, contradictory and sometimes dark feelings that dwell in the human heart is an act of love. Art must not shy away from the mystery of frailty; it must engage with it and know how to remain before it. Without being didactic, authentically artistic forms of cinema possess the capacity to educate the audience’s gaze.

In conclusion, filmmaking is a communal effort, a collective endeavor in which no one is self-sufficient. While everyone recognizes the skill of the director and the genius of the actors, a film would be impossible without the quiet dedication of hundreds of other professionals including assistants, runners, prop masters, electricians, sound engineers, equipment technicians, makeup artists, hairstylists, costume designers, location managers, casting directors, special effects technicians and producers. Every voice, every gesture and every skill contributes to a work that can only exist as a whole.

In an age of exaggerated and confrontational personalities, you demonstrate that creating a quality film requires dedication and talent. Thanks to the gifts and qualities of those whom you work alongside, everyone can make their unique charisma shine in a collaborative and fraternal atmosphere. May your cinema always be a meeting place and a home for those seeking meaning and a language of peace. May it never lose its capacity to amaze and even continue to offer us a glimpse, however small, of the mystery of God.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts about Pope Leo XIV’s speech in the comments below. What do you make of it and his message? And what are you doing to fight back against the inauthentic and the unreal?

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