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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni (beh-NEEN'-yee) has given Pope Francis two thumbs up, praising the pope as a fountain of mercy who is "dragging the whole church toward Christianity."
At perhaps the most unusual Vatican book launch ever, Benigni was joined by the Vatican secretary of state, the Vatican spokesman and the Vatican publisher, as well as a Chinese prison inmate, to premier "The Name of God is Mercy." Francis' book-length conversation with Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli is being released in 86 countries as part of the pope's Holy Year of Mercy. An audio version in English is being released by Penguin Random House.
Benigni, whose 1999 "Life is Beautiful" won three Oscars, joked that he wanted to be a priest as a child but realized he had to become a comic instead after friends laughed when he said he wanted to be pope.
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