‘Spotlight’ Screened at the Vatican

 

For those who have already seen it, (and even those who also lived through the events) they probably did not expect “Spotlight” to get screened at the Vatican. Specifically for a commission on sexual abuse. Reportedly many abuse survivors and priests were in attendance for this screening. Though Pope Francis himself was unable to attend, it was he who set up the commission back in 2014 to try to make sure the events depicted in the movie don’t happen again in real life.

“Spotlight,” which has been nominated for several Oscars (Sunday, Feb. 28th) this year including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (the latter of the two being an odds-on favorite to win) tells the story of the Boston newspaper team that cracked the story of the Catholic Church’s cover-ups of sexual abuse. The film itself has gotten a lot of very good press since its release. Not only for its fantastic performances, but for it’s hard-hitting portrayal of what happened. Needless to say Pope Francis missed out on a good film to watch. As said by Peter Saunders (an anti-abuse campaigner and abuse survivor himself), “The film is extremely worrying about the cover-up of abuse in the Catholic Church, and I think it would be a good moment for the pope to see it.”

The Vatican Radio called the film “honest” and “compelling.” However, the point of this commission was to lead to some changes and hopefully this is a sign that that could happen, and it’s about time. As many have noted before, the Catholic Church and previous Pope John Paul II’s response to the abuse was not the most satisfying. Though there have been some changes and attempts to fix things by Pope Francis throughout the years, there has no doubt been some undeniable missteps and still more ground to cover in making things right.

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This story was first reported by LA Times