Pope Francis welcomed Angelina Jolie to the Vatican on Thursday after the movie "Unbroken," which the actress produced and directed, premiered in the city-state, Radio Vaticana reported. The private screening took place in the Casina Pio IV, a patrician villa inside the Vatican borders and home to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

The pontiff himself missed the showing but later met with Jolie in the Apostolic Palace, the Daily Mail detailed. Two of her children accompanied the director, but husband Brad Pitt did not travel to Rome.

"To be invited to screen 'Unbroken' at the Vatican is an honor, and a tribute to (Louis Zamperini's) legacy as a man of faith and someone who exemplified the power of forgiveness and the strength of the human spirit," Jolie said in a statement. 

Zamperini was an American World War II prisoner of war, Christian inspirational speaker and Olympic distance runner on whose life story Jolie's movie is based. He died last July in Los Angeles at 97 years old, but his son, Luke, was present at the Vatican screening, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted.

"Pope Francis, aware of the incredible life story of Louis Zamperini, graciously welcomed the opportunity to view the film," distributor Universal Studios said in a statement. "Unbroken" opened in the United States on Dec. 25, 2014, and made some $15 million on its opening day –the third-biggest Christmas Day debut ever.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's chief spokesman, said the movie exemplifies "positive human and spiritual values, in particular forgiveness." He added the meeting between Jolie and the head of the world's more than 1 billion Catholics lasted just a few minutes, though it was "naturally very significant for those present," according to the Daily Beast.

Jolie said she aimed to portray a "universal" faith in "Unbroken," the Religion News Service noted, adding she renewed her own faith in "the divine" during making.

"The film, I think, portrays beautifully (my father's) faith throughout," Luke Zamperini said in December. "This is the way my father also presented the gospel to people. He just told a story and let them come up with their own conclusions."

"Unbroken" was memorable in more ways than one for Jolie. 

In an interview with Italian magazine IO Donna, Jolie also admitted that she and Pitt were married before their summer 2014 wedding, according to Yahoo! 

"As Americans, we could get married in France without a prior marriage ceremony in California," Jolie said to the magazine. "So, one day when I was working on 'Unbroken,' I say to Brad: 'Honey, why don't we meet at 4:30?' I take a break for an hour, call a justice of the peace, run home, and sign the documents."

Jolie added that the two laughed and thought the impromptu wedding was "romantic."