Basis for Supporting Certain PG-13 and R-rated films

Reference to Official Church Statements

Pope Pius XII [Speech delivered to the patrons of the art of the cinema gathered in Rome for their International Convention, October 28, 1955]

Human life "certainly cannot be understood, at least when considering violent and serious conflicts, if one deliberately turns one's eyes from the crimes and evils from which they often have their origin. How then, can ideal films take this as their subject? The greatest poets and writers of all times have occupied themselves with this difficult and rough matter, and they will continue to do so in the future... When the conflict with evil, not excluding cases when evil prevail for a while, is treated, within the context of a work as a whole, in an effort to understand life better, to see how it should be ordered, or to show how man himself should conduct himself, hoe he should think and act with more consistency, then, in such cases, such matter can be chosen as an integral part of the development of the whole film." Such a work would contribute to moral progress. [Communio et Progressio, N. 57].

Pope John Paul II wrote that "even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption." [Letter to Artists, N. 10].