Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV in a private 40-minute audience at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on 31 July. The meeting matters as it brought together two prominent Chicago-born Americans whose representatives described their conversation as centred on hope, culture and a shared response to a divided world.

Smith attended with Reverend Antonio Spadaro, the Vatican’s Undersecretary for Culture and Education, who said the pair quickly developed a warm rapport despite Smith initially being almost speechless. Smith, who is not Catholic but had admired Pope Francis and performed at the Vatican in 2014, called the encounter a moment that would “forever produce a smile”.