People don’t generally turn to the Pope for movie advice, for the same reasons that no one ever looked to Siskel and Ebert for… whatever it is that a Pope actually does.
But the Pope’s cinematic taste is in the news this week following the announcement that Pope Leo XIV will be hosting a “Hollywood gathering at the Vatican” later this month for industry A-listers including Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee and Chris Pine. I guess the Spotlight cast’s invitations must have gotten lost in the mail.
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The Vatican also shared a video of the Pope naming his top four favorite movies of all time, Letterboxd-style. His list includes Life is Beautiful, The Sound of Music, Ordinary People and It’s a Wonderful Life. But keep in mind, that list could change as soon as he catches up with The VelociPastor.
But prior to his Popedom, His Holiness used to have a Twitter account. Back in 2013 he used it to Tweet out a link to a list of the “best” Christmas movies, as decided by the Catholic News Service. The list, which has subsequently been dubbed “Pope Leo XIV’s Best Christmas Movies” on Letterboxd, contains classics like Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. And it didn’t escape Muppets fans’ attention that the Pope once celebrated The Muppet Christmas Carol.
But there are some pretty shocking selections on this list as well. Like the 2009 Jim Carrey-starring CGI take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. And, weirder still, the list contains the Tim Allen trainwreck Christmas with the Kranks. Although, to be fair, it did try to sell itself as the new Passion of the Christ.
But worst of all, the list includes… Fred Claus.
For those who have been lucky enough to avoid it over the years, 2007’s Fred Claus tells the story of Santa’s deadbeat brother, played by Vince Vaughan – presumably because some studio executive thought “Wedding Crashers plus Christmas equals beach house” while doing sled-loads of cocaine.
Yup, the list shared by the Pope doesn’t include Elf or Home Alone, but it does contain a movie in which St. Nicholas has an elite squad of ultraviolent secret service agents. Just 30 seconds of this dreck will make you want to immediately watch as much of Die Hard as possible just to try and get the taste out.
To be clear, Pope Leo didn’t put this list together himself, but he did share it online, thus implicitly endorsing its contents. Which begs the question: what is the church’s position on immortal elven demigods dating women 1660 years their junior?
