Conversations on Faith

From the legendary film director Martin Scorsese, a book in which he and Father Antonio Spadaro discuss the visionary filmmaker’s relationship to faith throughout his life.

From his Italian-American upbringing as a Catholic in New York to the meditations on religion, belief, and the divine found in his filmography, Martin Scorsese’s relationship to his faith has touched every aspect of his life and work.

When Italian journalist Father Antonio Spadaro and Martin Scorsese first sat down together in Scorsese’s home, neither could have predicted the depth of the conversation, intellectual exchange, or friendship that would result. While discussing the acclaimed director’s film Silence, about the persecution of Jesuits in Japan, they began a dialogue about faith that continues to this day.

In their often-profound conversations, he and Father Spadaro have left no stone unturned, discussing this relationship along with everything from Scorsese’s childhood to the concept of the soul. And as a result of their long friendship and communication, Scorsese met with Pope Francis. Readers will gain new insight into one of the most famous directors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in these honest, moving, and ultimately inspiring Conversations on Faith.

Martin Scorsese is a director, film producer, screenwriter and actor. Prominent figure of the New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the greatest and most significant directors in the history of cinema. Central to his career are his collaborations with Daniel Day-Lewis, Harvey Keitel, Joe Pesci, and especially with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Among the numerous film awards he has received there are the Academy Award for Best Director in 2007 for The Departed, the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976 for Taxi Driver, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 1995, three BAFTAs, four Golden Globes (including one for lifetime achievement in 2010), and the Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2024.

Antonio Spadaro (born in Messina in 1966) is an Italian Jesuit, theologian, and essayist. He serves as the undersecretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education and as the secretary-general of the All of Us Foundation.