Pope Leo XIV Meets Bad Bunny in Historic Encounter

10:59 AM EDT on June 10, 2026

Bad Bunny and Pope Leo XIV are two mega-famous Americans who draw huge crowds around the globe. Both of them also drive this country's right wing public figures into fits of frustrated rage. On Monday, the two men came face to face.

As CNN reports , the Pope and Bad Bunny are currently in Spain, where both are appearing in front of adoring throngs. On Saturday, the Pope held a prayer vigil for an estimated 600,000 people in Madrid. That same night, Bad Bunny performed at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, part of a run of eight concerts at the venue. Traffic must've been terrible this weekend.

On his way out to Madrid, the Pope joked to CNN that he and Bad Bunny were competitors: "If they are confronted with the question: do they want to see Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope, I think many will go to see Bad Bunny. But I think there will also be a few there to see the pope. And that too says something, you know."

A Vatican spokesperson confirms that Pope Leo briefly met with Bad Bunny, along with "his family and other people," on Monday. We don't know what they talked about, and the Vatican reportedly doesn't plan to release any photos, so we'll just have to imagine their interaction and then assume that our vague impressions are completely accurate.

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_Originally reported by [Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2501918/pope-leo-xiv-got-to-meet-bad-bunny/news/)._