Actor Shia LaBeouf said he converted to Christianity while shooting his upcoming film Padre Pio and has become a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
LaBeouf revealed his conversion in an interview released Thursday with Word on Fire Catholic Ministries’ Bishop Robert Barron.
The actor first engaged with the church while living with a monastery of Franciscan Capuchin friars in order to better understand the late mystic St. Padre Pio, whom LaBeouf portrays in the upcoming movie.
Heading into the project, LaBeouf said that he was at the darkest point in his life after a series of public scandals. He was drawn to spirituality and joined a variety of faith groups to find meaning, fighting thoughts of helplessness and suicide.
“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” Shia recalled in the nearly 90-minute interview. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all this happened. Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go. You can’t go outside and get like, a taco.”
“But I was also in this deep desire to hold on,” he added.
The actor described finding faith during his research by surprise, saying that his mindset going into the film was focused on his career, not God.
“The reach-out had happened. I was already there, I had nowhere to go. This was the last stop on the train. There was nowhere else to go — in every sense,” LaBeouf said in the interview.
He continued, “I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him. Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously. But there would have been no impetus for me to get in my car, drive up [to the monastery] if I didn’t think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna save my career.'”
While researching and performing the role, however, LaBeouf said he felt “tricked” by God.
“And when I got here, a switch happened. It was like Three-Card Monte. It was like someone tricked me into it, it felt like,” the actor recounted. “Not in a bad way. In a way that I couldn’t see it. I was so close to it that I couldn’t see it. I see it differently now that time has passed.”
LaBeouf described talking through his feelings and learning about the Christian understanding of sin and forgiveness as key to pulling him out of a dark time in his life.
The actor said that he did not feel worthy of pursuing piety of any kind until he met others who had struggled morally in ways he’d never seen before and felt safe.
Last year, LaBeouf was charged with two misdemeanors — petty theft and battery — after he stole a man’s hat in a fight that turned physical. Just a couple of months later, his ex-girlfriend and pop star FKA Twigs sued him over his alleged abusive behavior.
Another ex-girlfriend was listed in the lawsuit and also claimed LaBeouf was abusive toward her.
“It was seeing other people who have sinned beyond anything I could ever conceptualize also being found in Christ that made me feel like, ‘Oh, that gives me hope,'” LaBeouf told the bishop. “I started hearing experiences of other depraved people who had found their way in this, and it made me feel like I had permission.”
LaBeouf plays the titular character in Padre Pio, a film helmed by Abel Ferrara exploring the life of the Franciscan Capuchin mystic.
Padre Pio was born Francesco Forgione in southern Italy in 1887. He became famous for showing stigmata, or crucifixion wounds like those on the body of Jesus Christ. He died in 1968 at the age of 81, was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1999 and then canonized in 2002. Ferrara previously made a short documentary on the religious figure.
Despite intense scrutiny from skeptics and members of the medical community, no conclusive explanation has been given for Pio’s stigmata, which allegedly appeared and healed throughout his life.
LaBeouf felt immense pressure as he learned more about Pio and spoke to other Franciscan Capuchin friars, who he says begged him, “Don’t get it wrong. He’s the only one we have.”
The actor stressed throughout the interview that despite his intense immersion, he is still very new to the faith and not an expert on different aspects of the religion. When his conversion started, LaBeouf and the friars were not even sure if he had ever been baptized.
“I didn’t know I was baptized. I had been baptized earlier in my life and didn’t even remember it. My uncle had baptized me in the [Trinitarian formula],” he explained.
LaBeouf told Barron that the traditional form of the Catholic mass — celebrated in Latin — was key in both his conversion and his performance as an actor playing Pio.
When Ferrara asked LaBeouf to use an Italian accent while acting, he refused. The movie had become too personal and too important to wear a “mask” as LaBeouf described it to Barron.
“While we were practicing Latin Mass, I was having genuine emotional experiences, and aside from the fact that as a Neapolitan speaker, [Pio’s] accent wouldn’t have matched Italian anyway, but it felt like that would have taken me out of this thing that felt very personal,” LaBeouf explained….
The above comes from an August 25 story on Fox News.
The Novus Ordo with good sacred music and a reverent priest-celebrant is much better than the TLM.
Why is such a Mass so rare?
Curious, what are you experiencing?
While I’ve found some Masses with good, appropriate music (both traditional and contemporary), I still find many where the congregation can’t sing the parts of the Mass (due to either the high key the women in the choir use or an overpowering organ) and some where the priest seems to think he’s a talk show host or star of the show. As the boomer priests retire, the latter may change. And, homilies are a mixed bag. It seems almost all are afraid to clearly (and compassionately) state some truths. For example, that marriage is one man and one woman and sex outside of marriage is wrong.
How is your parish and those of other readers doing in supporting the bishops call to actively work against Proposition One?
Many priests are tepid about that. And, we know what our Lord says about the lukewarm.
Thank you for your answer.
It can be bad depending on what Mass you attend.
I have found that most priests “say the black, do the red.” But occasionally there is a substitute priest that adlibs intros to every part of the Mass. They are usually retired priests.
Homilies, if you can remember them, are not “made for TV” quality.
I do not live in California. I live in an area where even the Democrats are pro-life.
Hence the massive abuses of the Novus Ordo, that the hierarchy has let go on and on is one of the reasons for the popularity of the TLM…nice try, but you’re wrong.
bohemond, that ain’t why. For some but not most. And if it is, then it is a lack of patience on the part of the Mass goer. And a lack of understanding. God would have you see an abuse at Mass only so you could pray for the priest.
It is answered every time in my experience.
Uh yes it is… the hierarchy has let abuses go on and on and on for DECADES, so now the mass goer has to be patient with liturgical dancers, mimes, clowns, puppets and host of other garbage. No more. The TLM is under attack by dried up hippies who cannot accept the fact their revolution and “new springtime” has failed on a galactic level. I do not pray for evil heretical homo priest who purposely undermine the Church.
bohemond, well, it is very obvious that do not go to Mass. Thank you for praying for us though.
There are huge differences between the traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo Missae. Study both, and see the similarities and differences. But after that, just go to the Mass you feel is best for you. Christ is Present in the Holy Eucharist in both Masses. The old Latin Mass correctly emphasizes the Holy Sacrifice of Christ, and St. Padre Pio had a special devotion to it. He was a Saint. And the Vatican granted Padre Pio’s request to say only this Mass, not the New Mass, for the rest of his life. He died in 1968, the year before the Novus Ordo Missae came out. There is available on YouTube, also presented by EWTN, a video of the last Mass of St. Pio– he died a few hours later. You can clearly see his Stigmata, on his hands. You can see his deep and personal religious devotion. His Masses always lasted a long time, and he experienced the Passion of the Lord, and was in states of deep spiritual ecstasy and joy. Every Mass is a miracle of Christ Truly Present, in the Holy Eucharist.
If he died before the Missal was changed, why did he need special permission to not say it?
St. Padre Pio knew well, what the Vatican was planning, for the New Mass. And he did not “approve.” So, St. Pio petitioned the Vatican, and he was given special permission, to continue to say the old Latin Mass, lifelong. Also, after the Council, drastic changes were called for, by the Vatican, in all of the religious orders– many of them collapsed, and ended. St. Padre Pio and his Capuchin monks were unhappy also, with the drastic changes– but they all– including St. Padre Pio– agreed to be obedient to Rome on that.
LaBeouf studied the Latin Mass with the excellent ICKSP priests at St. Margaret Mary Church, in Oakland.
Almost all NO masses I’ve attended recently begin by the “choir” trying to teach the whole congregation new songs and responsorials just before Mass begins. Even at the same church, they don’t like to use the same songs twice. This makes no sense, because it excludes the congregation. During Mass, more than half are standing or sitting when they should be kneeling. These are not cripples; they knelt at other times. They truly do not know the meaning of what they’re doing in Mass. At the end, they all applaud and leave or talk loudly. No one says the St. Michael’s prayer. These are just some of the widespread characteristics of the Novus Ordo. Sad.
Most Catholic parish music directors have no proper knowledge of their role nor about sacred music for Mass, and they should be fired.
That is one parish. Doesn’t happen at my parish. Not widespread at all.
Mildred, I wonder if you’ve made your concerns about music charitably known to your choir director? As to kneeling and knowing the meaning of actions and your other liturgical concerns, I wonder if you’ve charitably made your concerns known to your pastor? If there is no hospitality hour after, I wonder if you might offer to host them so that people can leave the sanctuary quietly but then greet and “fellowship” after? My point is that I see a lot of people using these comm boxes to complain about things but except on some rare occasions, I hardly ever see people doing the hard work of gently speaking with the right people and offering to help find solutions.
In the 1980s I belonged to very vibrant parish that thad wildly outgrown its church building. People sat in the aisles. People stood in the back. More than a few even stood in the doorway and sidewalk listening in. (Wouldn’t it be nice if we had those problems today!). I was a EMHC at the time, and I sometimes ministered in the back, but it was so crowded that people were reaching over each other to receive the Blessed Sacrament. All it took was making the pastor aware of the situation with a sense that this might be something to be solved together and pastorally, and sure enough the next week, he made a gentle reminder folks to recall what they are there to witness. He did it in a way that invited people and didn’t scold them. It solved the problem.
Your Fellow Catholic– will you PLEASE charitably STOP criticizing poor Mildred? Instead– sympathize with her. There have been so many awful abuses at the New Mass– since the very day it all started. There is very little you can do, to help correct abuses– unless you get a Pastor who is very, very interested to do so. Best to search for a church with a Mass you can feel comfortable at, worshiping God– where the priests and congregation feel as you do, as a Catholic.
Mildred, you are correct in so many ways and off-key in others. I have never understood why we Catholics find it so hard, or an interruption, to sing at Mass. Most Protestant churches use different hymns/songs each week and everyone sings. It has been ages since people were first encouraged to sing at church. Why do we have to practice? Just start singing.
Mildred is totally correct in her feelings about the abuses at the New Mass, at her parish church. The Protestant service, and style of worship– is totally different than the holy Catholic Mass. The Catholic Mass calls for deep prayer and reverence– because in it, a tremendous miracle occurs! It is of Heaven— not of this earth! Christ comes down from Heaven to Earth, assisted by the Holy Angels, by the action of the Holy Spirit. The priest is our “Alter Christus” for us, and he is in a holy, mystical union with Our Lord, at the moment of Transubstantiation. The old Latin Mass and traditional sacred music is perfectly suited to this great Miracle. With the New Mass– everything is often a big “mess.” You really do not have to sing, at the New Mass– if you are not comfortable. Above all, we all ought to prayerfully kneel, and fix our focus and our hearts on the coming great Miracle of Christ in Transubstantiation— and prepare to receive Him, according to Church teaching.
“LaBeouf told Barron that the traditional form of the Catholic mass — celebrated in Latin — was key in both his conversion and his performance as an actor playing Pio.” How many souls will be lost once Pope Francis finishes his Sherman’s march through TLM country? If I were Bishop Barron I would be on the first plane to Rome.
See the post above yours.
Technically he’s a revert as he’s already been baptized.
Score one for the new evangelization
live and let live
whatever floats your boat
An interesting case this young man. I do pray that he’ll stay with the Faith and not let the world tear him away. I do recall how Chris Pratt’s evangelical comments got poo pooed to the point he basically said he wasn’t that much of a Christian after all.
His friendship with Mel Gibson goes back at lease 8 years. Gibson has been shepherding him for many years and will help guide him if he hits rough waters. You can be sure that some of the masses Mel Gibson helped him find were NOT discoverable on the internet. Stars have to be careful to avoid pop-up paparazzi waiting to get their 500$ minumum from tabloids
Mel Gibson is not a good example of a Catholic although he probably knows enough to get someone started. Pray for them both.
Hollywood actors are usually not the best examples of Catholic converts. Hopefully, LaBeouf and other Hollywood actors who are recent Catholic converts, will grow and deepen in their Faith. Actors like Mel Gibson have turned out to be very bad “Catholics,” leading terribly sinful lives. Gibson has seven children by his divorced wife, and one illegitimate child from each of his two live-in lovers. Scandalous! Unfair to those poor children! Gibson is ineligible to receive the Sacraments, unless he gives up his famous, current “live-in” girlfriend, Rosalind Ross, and goes to Confession and amends his life. Just like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi– Mel Gibson is not a practicing Catholic, and should never pretend to represent our Faith.
i am skeptical re Mr. LeBeouf
but time will tell
The film director, Abel Ferrara, age 71, was originally a pornography film director, they said. After struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, Ferrara says he now has been sober for ten years. He was born in the Bronx, NY, and raised Catholic, but is now a Buddhist, and lives in Italy. His grandfather was born in a town not far from Pietrelcina, St. Padre Pio’s hometown. I don’t think this film was made from the viewpoint of a devout Catholic filmmaker, making a great movie for the Church, about a great and holy Saint. I bet it has his own secular viewpoint, whatever it may be. Such a film is not meant to inspire religious devotion, although it probably will generate some interest in Catholicism.
And yes it was the Traditional Latin Mass that made Shia convert to the true Faith not the man-made Novus Ordo service.
Man-made? Ignorance is not bliss.
The offenses to the Lord on this website are extreme.