Actor Shia LaBeouf, who is known not only for his roles in movies but also for his troubles outside of them, was confirmed as a convert to Catholicism on New Year's Eve at a Mass presided over by a Capuchin Franciscan friar.
The Capuchin Franciscan Province of Western America announced the news on Facebook, posting photos of Leboeuf smiling as he received Holy Communion, kneeling in prayer with his eyes closed during Mass, and hugging monks who attended the ceremony. Posted.
The sacramental ceremony took place at Old Mission Santa Ynez Parish in Solvang, California. It was at the same monastery where LaBeouf, who admits to being an alcoholic and faces abuse allegations, trained for months for his role as one of Italy's best-known and most revered saints. It is a monastery. 2022 movie “Padre Pio''.
“The Capuchin Franciscan friars are overjoyed to welcome him into their ranks and witness his deep commitment to the journey of faith,” the Catholic order said.
LaBeouf “undertook a deep spiritual journey that led him to embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church,” the church said. “His decision to fully enter the church is a testament to his sincere desire to grow in his relationship with God and live out gospel values.”
LaBeouf first rose to fame as a teenager on the Disney Channel show “Even Stevens,” and most famous for his roles in 2007's “Transformers” and 2008's “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.” well known. He also appeared in the 2019 film The Peanut Butter Falcon.
He has had several run-ins with the law during his career, including a 2017 arrest in New York City for public intoxication and disorderly conduct that was captured on livestream video. Also included. He was sent to a court-ordered rehabilitation facility.
LaBeouf, who has been accused of abuse by his ex-girlfriend, had spent several months in a convent in California preparing for his role in Padre Pio.
The actor said the opportunity to play the mysterious Capuchin monk, best known for showing Christ's “stigmata” wounds that bled from his hands, feet and side, was a miracle for him. .
LaBeouf said in an interview last year with Bishop Robert Barron of the Winona-Rochester Diocese in Minnesota that he was an agnostic before converting to Catholicism. Although he had a bar mitzvah as a 13-year-old boy, he said he had never embraced the Jewish faith.
Barron said in an email to The Associated Press on Friday that LaBeouf's conversion was a “testimony of God's grace.”
“God seems to specialize in finding the lost,” Baron wrote. “Jesus Himself said, “I came not for the righteous, but for sinners.'' Therefore, forgiveness is always available. Redemption is always available.”
Brother Alexander Rodriguez, a Capuchin friar who is LaBeouf's fiduciary sponsor, told the Associated Press that LaBeouf “would not have become a Catholic if he had not experienced personal difficulties and sins as we know them. It would have been,” he said.
“The suffering he went through allowed him to know God, especially playing the role of Padre Pio,” the monk said in a telephone interview.
Padre Pio died in 1968 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002, making him one of the most popular saints in Italy, the United States, and elsewhere.
The Capuchin Order is a Catholic male order inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. On the site, they say their mission in life is to serve the poor and live the gospel “through fraternity, simplicity, and contemplative prayer.”
