Can movies help us see the world—and even our faith—in a deeper way?

On Driving Home the Faith, Dr. Ken Craycraft welcomes Andrew Petiprin, founder and editor of the Scepter Institute, author, podcaster, and former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism. Petiprin is the co-author, along with David Paul Baird and Fr. Michael Ward, of Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List from Word on Fire.

The conversation explores the Vatican's 1995 list of 45 important films, released to mark the centenary of cinema. The list includes everything from The Wizard of Oz, Fantasia, and It's a Wonderful Life to Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Modern Times, and internationally acclaimed works by directors such as Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman.

Petiprin explains that the Vatican's list isn't necessarily a ranking of the "45 greatest movies" or a list of films every Catholic must watch. Instead, the films are divided into three categories: Religion, Values, and Art—reflecting the Church's recognition that cinema can engage the human person in many different ways.

The discussion also looks at the Church's changing relationship with film. While the Church initially had concerns about the influence of the rapidly growing movie industry, by the middle of the 20th century it became increasingly clear that cinema could be a genuine and powerful art form capable of exploring profound questions about the human person, morality, relationships, suffering, beauty, and God.

Ken and Andrew also consider whether there is a single theme connecting all 45 films—and why the answer may be more complicated than we expect.