Pope John Paul II on Sunday called on actors and artists to set "positive and coherent examples" for their audiences as he celebrated a special Jubilee mass for the world of show business, the last before the end of the Catholic holy year.
"People are watching you with sympathy and interest," the pope said during the celebration in Saint Peter's Square.
For this very reason, show business must set "positive and coherent examples that can inspire trust, optimism and hope."
"If you are sensitive to the good, the true and the beautiful, even the smallest product of your creativity will be of high aesthetic and moral value," he added.
Big names attending the ceremony included Alberto Sordi, Monica Vitti and Dario Argento as representatives of Italy's movie world.
Others came from television and the theater, but circus artists and fun fair people were also present.
Sordi met the pope, who did some acting in his youth, on behalf of all those attending the celebration.
Society is "grateful to those who produce and make intelligent and distracting but not alienating, humorous but not vulgar, programs," said the pope.
"True fun can be a genuine form of social charity," he added.
Sunday's Jubilee was the last in a long string of celebrations for specific professional groups during the Catholic holy year which began on Christmas Eve last year and will end on January 6 with the closure of Saint Peter's Holy Door -- VATICAN CITY (AFP)
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