Peter.

A Man in the Wind, the latest live TV monologue by Oscar-winning comic actor and director Roberto Benigni dedicated to the history and humanity of the first apostle, broadcast Wednesday night in prime time on Rai1 as a world premiere (from 9:52 PM to 11:51 PM), hit nearly 4 million viewers (3,968,000), equal to a 24.4% share, the Italian state broadcaster said Thursday.

    The evening special, "Pietro. Un Uomo nel Vento," recorded peak audiences of over 4.9 million viewers and a 27% share, Rai said.
    Pope Leo XIV met Benigni ahead of the Life Is Beautiful star's monologue on St Peter, which had its pre-broadcast premiere at the MAXXI Museum in Rome on December 4.
    The Pope, according to the Vatican Press Office, saw excerpts of the monologue.
    "How beautiful, it speaks of love," he commented at the end.
    During the meeting, before the screening, the Pope and Benigni discussed cinema and "Life is Beautiful," which the Pope recently listed among his four favorite films, and Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life." The Pope and Benigni discussed the lives of St. Peter, Dante, and St. Augustine, the Divine Comedy, and the Confessions.
    The Vatican recently said Leo's favourite films are It's a Wonderful Life (1946) by Frank Capra; The Sound of Music (1965) by Robert Wise; Ordinary People (1980) by Robert Redford; and Life is Beautiful (1997) by Benigni.
    Benigni, 73, a big left-winger and devout Catholic who has previously drawn huge Rai audiences for monologues on the Divine Comedy and the Italian Constitution, among other things, said he had fallen in love with St Peter "just because his is exactly like us".
    "We are going to recount the dark side of Peter," he said, adding that "Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, and we don't know if he was happy about that".
   

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