Pope Leo XIV meets Patti Smith at Vatican

Pope Leo XIV held a private audience with American rock musician and poet Patti Smith at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on Friday, July 31, 2026. The 40-minute meeting, described by a Vatican official as a warm conversation between two Chicago natives, highlighted the musician’s long-standing, if unconventional, connection to the Holy See.

Video of the encounter showed Smith, 79, appearing initially speechless before shaking the pope’s hand and sitting down with him. The pope, familiar with her work, complimented her 1979 song “Wave,” which imagines a conversation with the late Pope John Paul I. Smith was accompanied by the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education and a longtime friend.

In social media posts following the audience, Spadaro characterized the meeting as a significant moment. He wrote that when the door opened, a spark was lit, and described the encounter as feeling like a conversation between two people discovering they were old friends, sharing memories woven from words and music, dreams, visions, and hopes.

Smith is not a Catholic but has participated in several Vatican cultural events over the past decade. She first met...