John Dougherty

1 week ago | americamagazine.org | John Dougherty

All of our Catholic Movie Club films this month have been inspired by Pope Francis’ life and legacy. As we come to the end of May, it felt appropriate to cover the most famous film made about his namesake: Roberto Rossellini’s “The Flowers of St. Francis” (1950). It is one of the most well-regarded Catholic films in history, appearing on the Vatican Film List and praised by major filmmakers like Francois Truffaut, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Martin Scorsese. It is also a strikingly simple film.

3 weeks ago | americamagazine.org | John Dougherty

In his first Sunday homily as pope, Leo XIV described his election as both a “mission” and a “cross.” Those words speak to his clear eyes and humility in the face of the enormous responsibilities he now bears. The election of a pope is a joyful thing. Being pope is the hardest job in the world. You couldn’t do better for a logline for “The Shoes of the Fisherman” (1968), Michael Anderson’s epic Cold War Vatican drama, written by John Patrick and James Kennaway, based on the novel by Morris West.

1 month ago | americamagazine.org | John Dougherty

The year before he entered the seminary, the young man who would become Pope Francis went to see a movie. That film, Federico Fellini’s “La Strada” (1954), moved him deeply and became his favorite movie of all time. Last year, dressed in papal white, Francis recorded a video . “As a boy, I watched many of Fellini’s films, but ‘La Strada’ has stayed in my heart,” he said. Throughout his papacy he referenced it in homilies, interviews and public addresses.

1 month ago | americamagazine.org | John Dougherty

Long before rock and roll claimed the title, blues was “the devil’s music.” Black preachers denounced it as a gateway to licentiousness and drunkenness. White commentators condemned it as vulgar even as white crowds packed the clubs and white artists appropriated its style. To its critics, the blues was too profane, too sensual—and too Black. As always, we demonize what we fear. The blues is the lifeblood of “Sinners,” the astounding new horror film from writer-director Ryan Coogler.

2 months ago | americamagazine.org | John Dougherty

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the sympathetic Pharisee Nicodemus: “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn 3:8). This metaphor is meant to explain an earlier statement: that in order to enter the kingdom of God, one must be reborn in the Spirit.