The US director Spike Lee gave Leo a basketball jersey at the meeting. Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media/Reuters

Hollywood stars met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where the pontiff called cinema a “workshop of hope” and lamented declining audiences.

The line-up of film stars and directors meeting the first American pope on Saturday included Oscar-winners Cate Blanchett, known for “Aviator” and “Elizabeth”, and Spike Lee, who directed “Malcolm X” and “BlacKkKlansman”.

All those present in the audience in the Vatican’s apostolic palace met Leo personally at the end, with Lee presenting the first American pope with a New York Knicks jersey.

Monica Bellucci, who played Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”, also met the pope on Saturday, as did actor Adam Scott, of th

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