Spike Lee presented Pope Leo XIV with a New York Knicks jersey on Saturday as the US pope welcomed film stars to the Vatican, where he called cinema a vehicle of hope.

More than 100 film industry professionals, whether actors, directors or producers, were received by the pope inside the Apostolic Palace, including Cate Blanchett, Alison Brie, Judd Apatow and Viggo Mortensen.

"His words were extraordinary and I wish cultural ministers around the world would take heed. He talked about compassion and leaning into the problems of the world," Blanchett told journalists following the audience.

Italians Monica Bellucci, Dario Argento and Matteo Garrone were also onhand for the audience with the pope, who shook hands individually with all the invitees, including director Lee, an ardent Knicks fan who presented him with the basketball team's jersey.

"He's the 14th Pope (Leo), so (the jersey) was number 14. And the back, it said Pope Leo," Lee said afterwards, explaining that the Knicks had three players from Villanova University in Pennsylvania, which the former Robert Prevost attended.

The 70-year-old pope, dressed in white, told the group that "when the magic light of cinema illuminates the darkness, it simultaneously ignites the eyes of the soul."

"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," he said.

'Heralds of humanity'

On Wednesday, the Vatican said the invitation to the world of cinema was intended to explore "the possibilities that artistic creativity offers to the mission of the Church and the promotion of human values".

Ahead of the audience, Leo revealed his four favourite films, most of them with hope as a central theme.

The films were: "It's a Wonderful Life", in which an angel is sent from heaven to help a desperate family man, the iconic musical "The Sound of Music", Robert Redford's family drama "Ordinary People" and Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful" (1997), about a father trying to shield his son from the horrors of a World War II concentration camp.

On Saturday, the pope called the film professionals "pilgrims of the imagination" and "narrators of hope and heralds of humanity".

Artists, he said, were "capable of recognising beauty even in the depths of pain, and of discerning hope in the tragedy of violence and war".

"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," he said.

"Good cinema does not exploit pain; it recognises and explores it. This is what all the great directors have done."

Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, held a similar event in June 2024 at the Vatican, inviting more than 100 comedians, including Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Fallon.