Vatican Newspaper Praises Oscar-Winner Spotlight, Deems It Not 'Anti-Catholic'

The Vatican’s newspaper has spoken out in praise of ‘Spotlight’, following its Best Picture win at the Oscars on Sunday night.

The movie deals with the Pultizer Prize-winning investigation by the 'Spotlight’ team at the Boston Globe in 2001, which uncovered widespread sexual abuse by catholic priests in the city and all over the world.

But in an editorial focusing on Oscar night, Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano hailed the movie, adding it did not believe it to be 'anti-catholic’.

Editor Lucetta Scaraffia wrote that the film, made by director Tom McCarthy, 'has the courage to denounce cases which must be condemned without any hesitation. And it does so in detail, on the basis of a documentation substantially serious and credible’.

He added that the movie also 'manages to voice the shock and profound pain of the faithful confronting the discovery of these horrendous realities.’

Scaraffia also mentioned producer Michael Sugar’s acceptance speech, which appealed to Pope Francis by name.

“This film gave a voice to survivors, and this Oscar amplifies that voice, which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” Sugar said.

“Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.”

Of Sugar’s words, Scaraffia said that in addressing the pontiff, it showed there is 'still trust in a faith that has at its heart the defence of victims, the protection of the innocent’.

In a minor criticism, it was mentioned the movie did not detail Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts against battling peadophilia in the church, but Scaraffia conceded 'one film cannot tell all’.

Yesterday it emerged that McCarthy and one of the film’s stars Mark Ruffalo, who played reporter Mike Rezendes, attended a protest outside a catholic church in California just hours before the Oscar ceremony, during which the movie would be crowned the best of the year.

Ruffalo posted a flyer from the event, organised by survivors’ organisation SNAP, which features in the movie.

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