Pope Francis had a "very cordial" 15-minute meeting on Wednesday morning with American director Martin Scorsese, who was accompanied by his wife and two children and Vatican Prefect for Communication Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, said the Vatican press office.
The group also included the producer of Scorsese's most recent film "Silence", based on the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo, which Pope Francis told them he has read.
The film's main characters are two Portuguese Jesuit priests in 17th-century Japan during the time of Kakure Kirishitan ("Hidden Christians").
Pope Francis spoke of the "sowing" of the Jesuits in Japan and the Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum, a memorial to Christian martyrs in Japan.
Scorsese gave the pontiff two paintings on the theme of "Hidden Christians", one by an 18th-century Japanese artist.
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