Director Martin Scorsese has announced that he plans to make a new movie about Jesus Christ. This news comes after Scorsese met with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

The iconic director, who is now 80 years old, announced his plans at a conference in the Vatican on Saturday.

Scorsese said: “I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus.” He then added “I am about to start making it.”

Scorsese was visiting The Vatican with his wife and daughter as part of a conference organised by a Jesuit publication La Civilta Cattolica and Georgetown University. Scorsese is set to attend several religious and cinematic events during his time in Italy.

Antonio Spadaro, editor of La Civilta Cattolica, co-organised the conference with Scorsese. The website reported that Scorsese mixed references to his film with personal anecdotes, as well as explaining “how the Holy Father’s appeal ‘to let us see Jesus’ moved him”.

Thank you to Martin #Scorsese for accepting the invitation to join us of La Civiltà Cattolica and Georgetown University - along with his wife and daughter - in the meeting of 40 poets and writers from different Countries with #PopeFrancesco, who said among other things, "This is… pic.twitter.com/yG6bEyo2Wq

— Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro) May 27, 2023

Scorsese identifies as a Catholic, and has previously produced two famous religious films, Silence, in 2016, and The Last Temptation Of Christ, in 1988.

The Last Temptation Of Christ, Scorsese’s last film to feature Jesus Christ, received backlash from many Christians, as it is not based on the gospels, instead exploring Jesus’ struggle with various forms of temptation, including fear and lust.

It was at one point banned in several countries including Turkey, Greece, Mexico, Argentina and South Africa, as well as being denounced by several Catholic bishops.

Silence is a historical drama that follows Jesuit priests in Japan in the 1700s, and their mission to convert people to the Christian faith, as well as the moral dilemma they face when these people are persecuted and killed by the Japanese authorities.

Scorsese screened the film in Rome in 2016, and met with Pope Francis, who himself joined the Jesuits in the hope of becoming a missionary in Japan long before becoming Head of the Catholic Church.

Scorsese had just returned from the Cannes film festival, where his new movie, Killers Of The Flower Moon, received a nine minute standing ovation from its audience. The movie stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro, as well as recent Oscar winner for best Actor, Brendan Fraser.

It is director Scorsese’s sixth movie collaboration with Leonardo Di Caprio, and his tenth with Robert De Niro. The movie has received glowing reviews, and releases in Ireland on October 20th 2023.