Pope meets Angelina Jolie after film show at Vatican

It was not a formal audience but pope gave Vatican souvenirs in brief, cordial greeting

Pope Francis with US actress Angelina Jolie in the gold brocaded Throne Room. Photograph: Osservatore Romana/EPA
Pope Francis with US actress Angelina Jolie in the gold brocaded Throne Room. Photograph: Osservatore Romana/EPA

Angelina Jolie has met with world leaders, refugees and royalty and now the actress, director and UN special envoy has added pontiff to the list.

Ms Jolie met Pope Francis briefly after screening her film Unbroken to some Vatican officials and ambassadors.

The actress and two children were at the Pontifical Academy for Sciences to screen the film, the Vatican said.

It tells the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic track star whose B-24 bomber crashed in the Pacific during the Second world war. He and two crewmates survived on a raft for 47 days, only to be captured by the Japanese.

READ MORE

Vatican spokesman the Rev Federico Lombardi said the film shows “positive human and spiritual values, in particular forgiveness”.

Pope Francis did not watch the film but spoke with Ms Jolie afterwards.

The meeting was arranged by the Argentine head of the pontifical academy, Msgr Marcello Sanchez Sorondo, who is a good friend of the pope’s.

Pope Francis was wrapping up a formal audience with a delegation of visiting Yazidis and stopped in the gold brocaded Throne Room – where he typically receives visiting heads of state – to meet with Ms Jolie, dressed in a black suit as papal protocol requires .

Rev Lombardi stressed that the meeting did not constitute a formal audience per se, but rather a brief and cordial greeting in which the pope paid particular attention to Ms Jolie and the children, giving them Vatican souvenirs. – PA