Leonardo DiCaprio showed off his linguistic skills on
Thursday, January 28, while paying Pope Francis a visit at the Vatican.
The Revenant actor, 41, wore a fitted black suit, crisp
white shirt and black tie for the occasion, showing the religious leader the
utmost respect upon their meeting by bowing deeply and kissing the pope’s ring,
as is customary.
“Your Holiness, thank you for granting me this private
audience with you,” DiCaprio said in Italian as he bent to kiss the ring,
according to ABC News.
The unlikely duo met on Thursday to speak about their
shared concerns for the environment, and exchanged gifts as a sign of mutual
respect.
In a video clip of the meeting, DiCaprio gives Francis a
book of the works by 15th-century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, explaining in
English that his father had hung the works over the actor’s crib while DiCaprio
was a baby.
“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 on in the environment,” the
Oscar-nominated actor explained.
DiCaprio also handed Francis a check, asking the
religious leader to use it for charity purposes “close to your heart.”
In exchange, Francis gifted the star with red,
leather-bound copies of Laudato Si and The Joy of the Gospel.
“Pray for me, don’t forget,” he told DiCaprio in English.
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