Rock icon Patti Smith was reportedly "giddy" and almost speechless as she met Pope Leo XIV during a private audience at the Vatican on Friday.
"Hi," Smith quietly said as she sat across from the pontiff in the Apostolic Palace, according to those present.
Wearing her trademark braids and a crucifix necklace, Smith has become an increasingly familiar face at the Vatican through her friendship with the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a senior official in the Holy See's culture ministry.
Although Smith is not Catholic, she has spoken warmly about the late Pope Francis, praising his "gentle, open, and steadfast sense of humanity."
Spadaro, who accompanied Smith to the meeting, said the audience felt less like a formal papal visit and more like "a conversation between two people discovering they were old friends."
He said the pair, both with ties to Chicago, shared memories, ideas, music and hopes for the future during their lengthy discussion.
Smith first met Pope Francis in 2013 and performed for him the following year. After Francis died in April 2025, she paid tribute with a poem on social media, comparing him to a dandelion that was "humble yet strong."
Earlier this year, Smith also performed at the opening of the Vatican's pavilion at the Venice Biennale on May 8, the anniversary of Leo's election.
The meeting marked Pope Leo's second high-profile encounter with a music star this week after he attended a special concert in his honor by tenor Andrea Bocelli on Wednesday.