Pope Leo XIV grants a private audience to American singer-songwriter, poet and artist Patti Smith, accompanied by Fr. Antonio Spadaro S.J., with whom Smith shares a long friendship and cultural collaboration. Both originally from Chicago, the Pope and the "priestess of rock" — in Italy for her summer tour, following her concert at the Circus Maximus on July 27 — hold a long conversation touching on memories, music, hopes and reflections on the contemporary world, including themes of peace, rights and social justice. A video released by the Vatican shows Smith greeting the Pontiff with a smile; the Pope jokingly asks her "You speak English too, don't you?", prompting laughter. The meeting recalls the artist's previous collaboration with the Holy See: on May 8, on the first anniversary of Leo XIV's election, Smith inaugurated the Holy See Pavilion at the 61st Venice Art Biennale with a "sound prayer" created with the Soundwalk Collective.