Conservative media personality Ben Shapiro is the latest famous face to secure time with Pope Leo XIV, meeting with the new U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church at the Vatican on Wednesday.
Shapiro, 41, founded the conservative news website The Daily Wire in 2015 as he rose to prominence in the world of right-wing podcasting. He expressed approval of Pope Leo XIV when he was selected as the Catholic leader in May, indicating that he believed Pope Leo would veer away from the liberal stances of his predecessor. On Wednesday, the conservative media personality, who is Jewish, posted an image of the moment on X.com and shared what happened with his 7.8 million followers.
“It was an honor to meet His Holiness, @Pontifex in Vatican City today, and to thank him for standing up for Biblical values in a chaotic world…and to present him with a signed 2005 White Sox World Series baseball I had in my collection (we’re both fans).” Shapiro wrote on X on Wednesday.
He added in a subsequent post: “As I told Pope Leo, he’s Catholic and I’m Jewish, but the 2005 White Sox World Series victory is a miracle we can all agree on.”
Bradley Bishop, a reporter for The Daily Wire, told The Hollywood Reporter by email on Wednesday that Shapiro had requested an audience with the pope and “was granted a spot quickly.”
Shapiro and Pope Leo met on Wednesday in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square, according to a post on The Daily Wire recapping the brief meeting during baciamano, which translates to “kissing the hand.” While this is traditionally an honor only for heads of state and diplomats visiting the Vatican, Shapiro was waved in and got the meet-up he desired.
In the image he posted to Twitter, Shapiro is holding a card and a package in his left and right hands. This was a gift for the new pope.
“He smiled at my remark, and then I handed him a White Sox 2005 team signed baseball. He asked if it was a gift, and seemed surprised and delighted that it was — you can see it on the tape. I believe this is a man who truly lives in joy,” Shapiro said.
TDW reported that the conservative media power player described the event as “beautiful — a reminder that Biblical values span the globe, across languages and borders.”
Pope Leo, whose birth name is Robert Prevost, has the distinction of being the first American pope. He was born in 1955 in Chicago and went on to do missionary work in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s and was elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine and prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Rome and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Shapiro is not the first big name to stand before the new pope. On Monday, cinema icon Al Pacino got some face time with the Holy Father while in Italy shooting a new movie, Maserati: The Brothers, about the famous car designers. The actor gave the new pope a mini Maserati as a gift to commemorate the upcoming film.
