Patti Smith has met with Pope Leo XIV during a 40-minute private audience at the Vatican.
The punk icon was welcomed to the Apostolic Palace yesterday (July 31), with the Vatican later sharing photographs and footage of the meeting on social media.
Smith was accompanied by her longtime friend Reverend Antonio Spadaro, who serves as the Vatican’s Undersecretary for Culture and Education. He said that Smith was initially almost speechless in the Pope’s presence, but before long the two struck up a rapport.
“When that door opened, something happened,” Spadaro wrote on X. “A spark was lit – one that came with a few lighthearted moments, but also with a profound sense of emotion and of a shared mission in this challenging world.”
“Two Americans, two Chicagoans. Two remarkable figures whose voices speak hope to a divided world: the ‘priestess of rock’, as #PattiSmith is often called, and the Holy Father, #PopeLeoXIV.”
Smith also shared an image from the meeting on her Instagram, writing: “A moment that shall forever produce a smile.”
She also shared a poem to mark Pope Francis’ death in April last year. “Farewell dear Pope Francis,” she wrote. “Nature and poetry and the suffering shall miss their champion.”
