Screenshot of “Leone a Roma” documentary, via YouTube.
The Vatican released a trailer of its upcoming documentary, “Leone a Roma,” which looks back on Pope Leo XIV’s near-two decades in Rome before being elected as the 267th successor of St. Peter.
The documentary “retraces the nearly two decades that Pope Leo XIV, then Robert Francis Prevost, spent in Rome, offering a portrait of the future Pope through the memories of those who knew him during his years in the Eternal City,” according to Vatican Media. “The documentary follows the steps of the first American-born Pope from his arrival in Rome from the United States in 1981 through his service as Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine and later as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.”
“The film further highlights his spiritual life and pastoral closeness through testimonies from those who encountered him in places of devotion and ministry, from catechism classes in Cesano to prayer at the shrine of St. Rita in Cascia, the tomb of St. Augustine in Pavia, and the sanctuary of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano,” the Vatican continues. “Through these accounts, [the film] seeks to present a portrait of the man who would become Pope Leo XIV: a friend, pastor, and leader whose years in Rome helped shape his ministry at the service of the universal Church.”
Felipe Herrera-Espaliat, Salvatore Cernuzio, and Tiziana Campisi, Vatican Media journalists, served as producers of the documentary, with editing by Jaime Vizcaíno Haro and Stefano Anella. The documentary will be broadcast on all Vatican Media official channels on Friday, May 8, the one-year anniversary of the start of his Petrine ministry.
“Leone a Roma” is the third documentary about Pope Leo released by the Vatican. It follows “León de Perú,” released in June 2025, and “Leo from Chicago,” released in November 2025, on his American roots.
View the documentary trailer for “Leone a Roma” below: