Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican for a 40-minute conversation, following a recent performance in Rome. The meeting brought together two Chicago natives and was presented as a warm exchange centred on music, shared memories and hope amid wider global divisions.

The audience was arranged by Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a friend of Smith’s and an official in the Vatican’s culture ministry. Smith greeted the Pope with a reference to her 1979 song “Wave”, which imagines speaking with Pope John Paul I; Leo recognised it immediately. Although Smith is not Catholic, she said she admired the Pope’s “gentle, open, and steadfast” humanity; she had previously met Pope Francis in 2013 and performed for him the following year.