Apr 12, 2010 / 09:16 am
Following his Saturday matinee viewing of a fictional film about Pius XII, the Holy Father commented that such films can be "useful and stimulating" in remembering the past which might otherwise be forgotten. Calling the late-Pontiff the Pope of charity and love, Benedict XVI underscored the role of Pius XII as the "father of all," especially during the Second World War.
Along with members of the production staff from Luxe Vide productions and Italy's Rai Television, members of the Vatican Secretariat of State and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Pope Benedict watched the film "Pope Pius XII. Under the Roman Sky" at Castel Gandolfo.
He said that the movie, which dramatizes the Pope's life during World War II in Rome in a two-part series, "presents the fundamental role of Venerable Pius XII in the salvation of Rome and of so many persecuted ..."
Works that offer a look into people and events from the last century, said the Holy Father, "take on a particular value, especially for the new generations." They can be "useful and stimulating and can help to know a period that is not at all distant, but that the pursuant events of recent history and a fragmented culture can make (us) forget."