Without a doubt the most adorable bit of Vatican arcana: Dating back to the sixth century, newborn lambs are selected, blessed on the feast of Saint Agnes, raised, pampered, and cared for by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth at at the Monastery of Saint Cecilia, then shorn. Their wool is used to create pallium vestments for the pope and metropolitan archbishops for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Massimiliano Camaiti’s absorbing documentary patiently observes this esoteric ritual from start to finish and happens to capture the church in an historic moment of transition, with the passing of Pope Francis and the selection of a new pontiff. In this colossal and thematically imposing setting, Camaiti brilliantly desensationalizes the process, focusing on the details of the work and the daily routines of the nuns in their modest corner of the city. You can read whatever you’d like into the stoicism of the cloistered who carry out their thankless tasks for the powerful men, and there are light absurdist undertones to this obscure tradition. But above all, Agnus Dei is a testament to the sisters’ care and attentiveness, as well as a window into the endless mysteries within the walls of the Vatican. And those lambs sure are precious. ~OO