On October 31, the Vatican Film Library will screen the Japanese film Nagasaki — Senkō no Kage de (Nagasaki – In the Shadow of the Flash), with the likely presence of Pope Leo XIV. The film is the latest work of 41-year-old Catholic director Junpei Matsumoto, who will travel to Rome for the occasion. Born in Nagasaki to a Catholic family and a third-generation hibakusha, he commented: “The decision to screen this film in the Vatican deeply honors me. I sincerely hope this small film, born of my grandfather’s wish as a survivor of the atomic bomb, can take on a special mission and become an ‘instrument of peace’ in today’s world, where violence never ends, and serve as a chance to carry the message of Hiroshima and Nagasaki into people’s hearts worldwide.” The film, based on a collection of diaries written by Japanese Red Cross nurses, tells the story of three 17-year-old nursing students—Tanaka Sumi, Oono Atsuko, and Catholic student Iwanaga Misao—whose lives are shattered when the atomic bomb explodes over Nagasaki, turning the city into hell. Commenting on the upcoming Vatican screening, the auxiliary bishop of Osaka-Takamatsu said: “I believe the fact that Pope Leo XIV, originally from the United States, the country that dropped the atomic bomb, will see this film carries great significance.”