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Leonardo DiCaprio meets with Pope Francis

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The two men share a similar interest in the environment.

Oscar-nominated, Leonardo DiCaprio had an audience with Pope Francis the morning of January 28.

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Highlights

By Abigail James (CALIFORNIA NETWORK)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
1/28/2016 (8 years ago)

Published in Celebrity

Keywords: Leonardo DiCaprio, Pope Francis, Oscars, Academy Awards, Pope meeting, Audience, Environment, Laudato Si, Encyclical

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - It is widely accepted that DiCaprio is passionate about the environment, in many similar ways as our beloved pope, so a meeting between the two could be referred to as "perfect."

"Your Holiness, thank you for granting me this private audience with you," DiCaprio said in Italian as he arrived in the Apostolic Palace, according to The Associated Press.

It is also reported DiCaprio presented the pope with a book of paintings by the 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, touching specifically on Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights." According to DiCaprio, that particular piece hung over his childhood crib.

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"As a child I didn't quite understand what it all meant, but through my child's eyes it represented a planet, the utopia we had been given, the overpopulation, excesses, and the third panel we see a blackened sky that represents so much to me of what's going in in the environment," DiCaprio stated, according to the Associated Press.

Pope Francis' release of his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si was embraced by many environmentalists for its hard hitting take on the world's fossil fuel-based economy and the insistence to "go green."

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Along with the book of paintings, DiCaprio reportedly donated a check to the pope from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to use on charity works close to the pope's heart.

During the visit, DiCaprio received a special, leather-bound copy of Pope Francis' Encyclical.

Forty-one-year-old DiCaprio is not the first A-list Hollywood star to meet with the Holy Father. Angelina Jolie briefly met with Pope Francis after her Vatican screening of "Unbroken," and Mark Wahlberg hosted the 2015 World Meeting of Families' Festival of Families during Pope Francis' visit to the United States.

"We have to take Leo and Francis's face-to-face for what it was: a meeting between two like-minded crusaders who clearly think they can be more powerful by teaming up," reported Vanity Fair.

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