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Oscar-Favorite 'Spotlight' Screens at the Vatican for Pope's Sex Abuse Commission

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The cast of Spotlight. (Open Road Films)

The latest stop on the Oscar campaign trail is … the Vatican?

A week after The Revenant star and Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio met with Pope Francis to discuss their mutual concern over the environment, the Best Picture-nominated Spotlight was screened for a special Vatican commission on sex abuse, according to the Los Angeles Times. Composed of priests and abuse survivors, the commission was assembled in Rome for a meeting that’s meant to find ways to prevent the sort of crimes depicted in the film.

Related: ‘Spotlight’ Trailer: Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo Uncover the Catholic Church’s Sex Abuse Scandal

Spotlight, from writer-director Tom McCarthy, focuses on the Boston Globe’s groundbreaking 2002 series on the widespread sexual abuse committed by priests that scarred generations of New England Catholics. It is a story that one member of the Vatican’s commission knows well: Cardinal Seán O’Malley, who was chosen to lead the Boston Archdiocese after the Globe’s massive exposé, was appointed by Pope Francis to head the Vatican’s commission. The New York Times noted that Vatican Radio had previously praised the movie.

The report noted that the pope did not watch the Thursday night screening, which means that he missed out on the quiet, determined, and Oscar-nominated turns given by Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams as persistent reporters. (Michael Keaton also gives a standout performance as their editor.) There’s hope that the pontiff will at least visit the commission during its three-day meeting. “The film is extremely worrying about the cover-up of abuse in the Catholic Church, and I think it would be a good moment for the pope to see it,” said Peter Saunders, a British activist and member of the commission, to the L.A. Times.

The pope himself just had a near-brush with the movie business. Reports out of Italy claimed that he would be starring in an upcoming film, but the Vatican moved quickly to clarify that the pontiff has no designs on show biz.

Watch Michael Keaton accept the SAG award for ‘Spotlight’