It was a heart-wrenching story that bitterly divided Catholics and Jews in Italy and provoked an international scandal more than 150 years ago.
Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy from Bologna, was secretly baptised by a maid when he fell ill and then forcibly removed from his family in 1858 at age six and raised as a Catholic with the blessing of Pope Pius IX.
Now Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg is making a film about the ill-fated battle by Mortara’s parents for the return of their son, who eventually became a priest. Oscar Isaac will play the adult Mortara and Mark Rylance has been cast as Pius; Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay.
Mr Spielberg has been scouring the world for the right child actor to play the role of Mortara, and the film is certain to cast fresh light on this controversial real-life drama when it is released.
Read the article by Josephine McKenna in Sight Magazine.