Gianfranco Rosi's 'In Viaggio' Chronicles Pope Francis's Global Pilgrimages

Gianfranco Rosi, winner of the Golden Lion in 2013 for 'Sacro GRA', presents 'In Viaggio', a documentary following Pope Francis's travels from 2014 to the present. The film offers an intimate portrait of a pope reshaping the Catholic Church's role, moving from custodian of a bimillennial institution to a pilgrim of the spirit. Rosi's camera captures Francis's encounters worldwide, from Armenia in 2016, where he called the Armenian genocide the first of the 20th century, to the UAE in 2019, meeting the crown prince on the 800th anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi's meeting with the Sultan. In Madagascar, Francis visits an ecovillage built by a former theology student, declaring 'poverty is not fate'. The 2022 Canada trip features apologies for the church's role in residential schools, condemning cultural destruction. The film also includes Francis's words to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill ('let the theologians argue'), to Mexican prisoners ('ask not why but what purpose'), and his 2020 address in a rainy, empty St. Peter's Square during the pandemic ('the whole is greater than the sum of the parts'). Rosi's documentary premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.