Patti Smith privately met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on 31 July, in an encounter described by a Vatican official as initially leaving the musician almost speechless before a rapport developed. The meeting matters chiefly as a cultural and symbolic exchange between a major American artist and the Pope, with both figures presented as sharing an interest in hope and public purpose.

Rev. Antonio Spadaro, the Vatican’s undersecretary for culture and education and a longtime friend of Smith, said the pair spoke about words, music, dreams, visions and hopes. Smith, who is not Catholic, has visited the Vatican several times and performed at Pope Francis’s Christmas concert in 2014 and again in 2021; Spadaro noted that Smith and Pope Leo are both from Chicago.