What Shia LaBeouf said about religion before his conversion
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For Shia LaBeouf, life really does imitate art.
The actor recently joined the Catholic Church after portraying a famous saint in a movie.
“We are thrilled to share that our dear friend Shia LaBeouf has fully entered the Church this past weekend,” wrote the Capuchin Franciscans’ Western American Province on Instagram on Jan. 2. “(We) are overjoyed to welcome him into the fold and witness his deep commitment to his faith journey.”
The post noted that the Catholic group got to know the actor as he prepared for his role in the 2022 film “Padre Pio.”
LaBeouf played the titular character, a Franciscan friar who became one of Italy’s best-known Catholic saints.
“The actor has said the chance to play the mystic Capuchin monk best known for having displayed the ‘stigmata’ wounds of Christ — he bled from his hands, feet and sides — was a miracle for him personally,” The Associated Press reported.
In an interview with Catholic Bishop Robert Barron released in August 2023, LaBeouf shared that his work on the movie helped him find God. He said that, before filming, he identified as agnostic.
“He had a bar mitzvah as a 13-year-old boy but never embraced the Jewish faith,” Catholic News Agency reported.
LaBeouf’s conversion came as he was facing allegations of abuse, struggling with addiction and attempting to restart his stalled acting career. A lawsuit brought against the actor by his former partner, musician FKA twigs, is still ongoing, according to Pitchfork.
In May 2023, LaBeouf told the Catholic news outlet OSV News that learning to pray the rosary gave him the sense of “tangible relief” that he had long tried to gain from drinking and doing drugs.
“I fell in love with Christ,” he said.
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Actors shaped by religious movies
LaBeouf is not the first actor to develop new religious routines through their work.
Andrew Garfield famously “(fell) in love with Jesus Christ” while preparing to portray a Jesuit Catholic priest in the film “Silence,” as America magazine reported in 2017.
“There were so many things in the (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola) that changed me and transformed me, that showed me who I was ... and where I believe God wants me to be,” Garfield said at the time.
And Angelina Jolie has said that directing the movie “Unbroken” about Louis Zamperini, who found faith at a Billy Graham tent revival after being a prisoner-of-war during World War II in Japan, helped her feel more spiritual.
“I think maybe in God’s plan for Angelina, she was supposed to find Louie and make this movie to find her way to a life that would encompass the Almighty,” Zamperini’s daughter, Cynthia Garris, told Religion News Service ahead of the film’s release.
LaBeouf becomes Catholic
When LaBeouf finished filming “Padre Pio,” he stayed connected to the Catholic leaders who helped him learn about the church for the movie. With their support, he took confirmation classes, which prepare people to join a new church.
The actor formally joined the Catholic Church on Dec. 31 at Old Mission Santa Inés Parish in Solvang, California, and is reportedly considering being ordained as a deacon in the future.
“Friends, please join me and the Capuchin friars in continued prayer for Shia LaBeouf. Shia was fully received into the Church through the sacrament of Confirmation on New Year’s Eve,” Bishop Barron said in a Facebook post.
