First things first. I don't have a problem with a single film on this list. Nor would Roger Ebert, my guiding star. I would say two thirds of these films appeared in his Great Movie books., certainly all of the ART FILMS. (I think he would have put Kind Hearts and Coronets over Lavender Hill but it's good to know the Vatican loves Ealing movies.) EBert was fine with all of the values films. He regular gave teachings on the Dekalog which I assume are the films by on the Ten Commandments. And he truly loved Ordet, though he acknowledged it was going to be a tough film for most viewers.

Where he might have disagreed is the idea that a film had to be released before 1995 to be considered a classic, even by the standards listed here.. Ebert felt you could recognize greatness without much time passing. The best example of this came with his final book when he ranked the Japanese movie Departures which had come out just in 2008 as one of the films in his last Great Movies books. I had never heard of it (like so many of Ebert's selections) but considering its subject matter involves an unemplyed cellist who in order to make a living takes a career preparing the dead for funerals, I have a feeling that this is the kind of film the Vatican could freely put in all three of its categories. Ebert also thought Spielberg's A.I. (A movie he praised in his initial review but thought flawed) was a great film. I think the Vatican would be fine with it in terms of values as it a discussion of major themes, particularly whether love is possible in something that isn't human. (That said, I'm pretty sure the College of Cardinals would have some objection to Ebert's choice of Se7en in the final book. Great movie, good ideas, really bad messagiing ;)