Angelina Jolie, born in L.A. 39 years ago, was recently nominated the highest-income actress three times by Forbes, but also “Special Envoy” and former “Goodwill Ambassador” for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Upon meeting with Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, last October, on Thursday, January 8th, the 1999 Academy Award recipient for Best Supporting Actress, realized the dream of meeting with Pope Francis, in the Vatican City.
The golden opportunity was offered by the private screening of her latest directorial effort: Unbroken, released last Christmas Day in the U.S. Pope Francis, engaged in a diplomatic meeting with the French Cardinal, could not attend the actual projection, held in presence of the highest prelates, at the Casina Pio IV, headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
Among the audience, there was also a very special guest: Luke Zamperini, son of the Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini, whose life the movie is centered on.
In the film, based on the 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, Angelina tells Zamperini’s life story, from his childhood, in Torrance, California, as transplant with his Italian family, through his competing as Olympic distance runner and his exceptional survival aboard a raft, after his B-24 bomber crashed in the Pacific during World War II, to his “superhuman” endurance after two years of imprisonment in Japanese camps and his triumphant return to US, at the end of the conflict.
Angelina, accompanied by her two eldest daughters, Shiloh and Zahara, her brother James Haven, Luke Zamperini and a member of the cast, had a brief but significant meeting with the Pope, who, at the end, gave the actress and her little girls some Vatican souvenirs.
As Jolie stated: “To be invited to screen Unbroken at the Vatican is an honor and a tribute to Louie’s legacy as a man of faith and someone who exemplified the power of forgiveness and the strength of the human spirit.”
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