But when Martin Scorsese’s new film, Silence, has its world premiere at the Vatican on Tuesday, it will be the culmination of a 27-year project that the director has described as “an obsession”.
Silence is based on the acclaimed 1966 novel of the same name by the Japanese author Shusaku Endo.
Silence opens in the US on 23 December, in the UK on 1 January and in Japan later that month.
It is not the first film to have a Vatican premiere.