“The Chosen” star meets Pope Francis 

Earlier this month, Jonathan Roumie from the popular Christian tv series “The Chosen” met Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the show, wrote on Instagram that it was a childhood dream to meet the pope.

“The honor of my spiritual life and a childhood dream realized. No words… Beyond graced. Gracias Santo Padre Franciscus for your time and blessings! Deepest gratitude to my friend Bree Dail for helping me get here and Dallas Jenkins for capturing this unparalleled moment in history for me,” he wrote as he posted a video of the meeting.

In the video, which you can watch at the bottom of this article, Jonathan Roumie asks Pope Francis to bless his cross and pray for him because he got the honor of playing Jesus in the hit tv series.

He also told the pope that he prays for him constantly.

“May you imitate Him, may you find Him, and may He grant you joy,” Pope Francis responded.

“This represents the growth of the show”

The creator of “The Chosen,” Dallas Jenkins, accompanied Jonathan Roumie to the Vatican and the meeting with Pope Francis.

“This is really fascinating for me. As a Protestant, I do not have a whole lot of passion for something like this, but it is certainly an amazing opportunity and represents the growth of this show around the world,” he said.

The series premiered in 2019 and has since then taken the Christian world by storm. Based on the life of Jesus, it is the first multi-season series about Jesus from birth to death. So far, two seasons have been produced.

By June 2021, “The Chosen” had been watched 150 million times and had been translated into 50 languages.

“When we were in line, people from all over the world were recognizing us and thanking us for the show. The opportunity for other faith traditions to experience the show is not something that I necessarily planned for, but I did not think I would have an opportunity here to meet the pope and to get to experience this amazing city of Rome. It is certainly quite an honor and something that represents just how far ‘The Chosen’ is reaching,” Dallas Jenkins added.

From streaming to tv

“The Chosen” is being broadcasted on Trinity Broadcasting Network, but it was originally scheduled for the streaming website VidAngel.

“We are thrilled to bring this television series to Trinity Broadcasting Network and allow our viewers to experience Jesus in a way that has never been done before,” Chairman of the network, Matt Crouch, said earlier this year.

The idea of “The Chosen” was developed after Dallas Jenkins made the short film “The Shepard,” which VidAngel put on Facebook. “The Shepard” got more than 15 million views from all over the world.

Dallas Jenkins, VidAngel and video marketing strategist Derral Eves turned to crowdfunding to raise money for the production of “The Chosen,” and in January 2019, the show had raised more than $10.2 million from over 16,000 investors.

The many millions of dollars have made the first season of “The Chosen” the highest crowd-funded tv series or film ever.