Photo: Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images
Today in Catholic news, Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, and boy was she excited. The rocker had a private audience with the pope on Friday morning, which she attended with her friend, the Italian Jesuit priest Antonio Spadaro. She was downright giddy.
Smith and Pope Leo presumably had a lot to talk about, not just because Smith has a longtime passion for the Catholic church, but because they’re both from Chicago. Smith was born in the Windy City before moving to New Jersey, and Leo is famously a lifelong White Sox fan. They could discuss Catholic doctrine and the merits of putting a pickle on a hot dog.
This is not the first time Smith has met a pope. She got to greet Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in 2013, and was later invited to perform at a Christmas concert at the Vatican the next year. Despite being raised a Jehovah’s Witness, Smith has quite the fondness for Catholicism. When Wim Wenders made a documentary about Francis, she wrote a song for it; when Francis died last year, she commemorated his death with a poem on Instagram; and just this year, she performed a “sonic prayer” to inaugurate the Holy See Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Even if Smith isn’t technically Catholic, the Catholic community could certainly use a rock star, considering its biggest conversion advocate right now is J.D. Vance. Isn’t it nice of Smith to add some cultural cachet to the religion? I’d like to see her do some more Catholic meet and greets — specifically, a guest spot on that nun podcast.
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