The star of hundreds of films spent forty-eight hours in Rome, where he received the Lupa Capitolina honor from Mayor of Rome. This morning, he visited the Vatican and met Pope Leo XIV for a brief exchange, where the pontiff gifted him a Rosary.<\/p>\n
By Salvatore Cernuzio<\/b><\/p>\n
First, there was laughter \u2014 the kind that comes when you find yourself face to face with someone whose image you\u2019ve seen countless times on screens and in magazines, now standing right before you. Then came the greeting: the Pope spoke first \u2014 \u201cGood morning! It\u2019s a pleasure to meet you!\u201d \u201cFor me as well,\u201d replied Robert De Niro.<\/p>\n
The actor was received by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The brief audience took place this morning in the Sala del Tronetto of the Apostolic Palace, amidst the Pontiff\u2019s busy schedule.<\/p>\n
Audience in the Vatican<\/b> <\/p>\n
The famous two-time Oscar-winning 82-year-old actor is American but proudly of Italian (specifically Molisan) descent. He had wanted to conclude his 48-hour visit to Rome with a handshake from the Pope, his fellow countryman. A pontiff who, as many longtime friends from Chicago recall, has always loved going to the movies. And so it happened: in the Sala del Tronetto, a light exchange in English, a photo with the five people accompanying him, and finally, a Rosary presented by the Holy Father to each one of them.<\/p>\n
A medal in Rome<\/b> <\/p>\n
De Niro\u2019s visit to the Vatican offered an immersion in the artistic beauty of the Apostolic Palace \u2014 the perfect finale after yesterday\u2019s experience, when, standing on the balcony of Mayor Roberto Gualtieri at the Campidoglio, he was captivated by the splendor of the Imperial Forums.<\/p>\n
\u201cRome is more than a city; it\u2019s a living work of art,\u201d said the star to the mayor, who presented him with the Lupa Capitolina, the city\u2019s highest honor. The protagonist of legendary films \u2014 including The Godfather, for which he even learned the Sicilian accent \u2014 accepted the award with emotion: \u201cTo be recognized here, in a place that has given so much to the world of culture, cinema, and beauty, is truly moving\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor added: \u201cMy family has roots in Italy, so this recognition holds a very special meaning for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The star of hundreds of films spent forty-eight hours in Rome, where he received the Lupa Capitolina honor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[1567,18,117,19,17,2515,2517],"class_list":{"0":"post-168432","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cinema","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","14":"tag-vatican"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115510055000308936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}