Leonardo DiCaprio Was a Big Pope Francis Guy

After the death of Pope Francis, tributes have emerged from world leaders and celebrities—including one Leonardo DiCaprio, who recalled his “deeply moving” 2016 meeting with the late leader on Instagram.

“Pope Francis was a transformational leader — not only for the Catholic Church, but also for environmental reform and activism,” wrote DiCaprio, who has been on a lifelong climate crusade since establishing his eponymous foundation in 1998. “He demonstrated a deep and unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship, most notably through his groundbreaking 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’.”

The Oscar winner was referring to an encyclical letter Francis sent to churches around the globe—a “powerful document” that “served as a clarion call for a fundamental shift in how we relate to the planet,” DiCaprio wrote. “Emphasizing the interconnectedness of all life, Pope Francis urged individuals, communities, institutions, and world leaders to unite in caring for our common home. His words helped catalyze momentum ahead of the global 2015 COP21 conference, ultimately contributing to the formation of the Paris Agreement.”

The 50-year-old actor met with Francis back in 2016 to discuss the urgency of climate change for his National Geographic documentary Before the Flood, which was released later that year. During their visit, DiCaprio spoke in Italian and gifted the pope a book of art. “That experience was enlightening, deeply moving and thought provoking,” DiCaprio wrote on Monday.

“Pope Francis was one of the most extraordinary spiritual leaders of our time,” he continued. “His legacy will continue to inspire generations of environmentalists around the world. May he rest in peace.”

DiCaprio’s frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese, who had multiple meetings of his own with the pope, also remembered Francis after his passing, telling Variety: “The loss for me runs deep—I was lucky enough to know him, and I will miss his presence and his warmth. The loss for the world is immense. But he left a light behind, and it can never be extinguished.”

The acclaimed filmmaker made multiple films that centered on themes of religion, including 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ starring Willem Dafoe and 2016’s Silence with Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver. Following his 2023 meeting with the pope, Scorsese said he intended to make another biblical film. “I have responded to the Pope’s appeal to artists in the only way I know how: by imagining and writing a screenplay for a film about Jesus,” Scorsese said at the time. “And I’m about to start making it.”

Last year, Scorsese told The Los Angeles Times that the project would be an adaptation of A Life of Jesus, another novel by Silence author Shūsaku Endō’s.

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