NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    VATICAN CITY, SEP 21 (ZENIT).- The Holy See received a torrent of praise, following Cardinal Paul Poupard's request to film producers "rediscover those avenues that led to the production of memorable films." Cardinal Poupard, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, attended the Venice Film Festival.

    In his address, the Cardinal requested that "cinema stop being the prisoner of sex and violence, topics that seem to be obsessive today, and leave them behind in the twilight of the end of the century and go (forward) toward the dawn of the new millennium."

    Representatives of the cultural world in general, and the film industry in particular, sent letters of gratitude to the Vatican for the impulse given by the French Cardinal to the Venice Festival. There were also letters of a political nature. Undoubtedly, one of the most unexpected was the official letter sent by the Iranian Embassy at the Vatican, thanking the Catholic Church for its work in defense of the dignity of all human persons in face of the complex world of cinema. The long letter acknowledged the contribution made by Cardinal Poupard to the dignity of women, which some contemporary film studios seem to regard simply as an object of merchandising. ZE99092103

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