From Our Sunday Visitor:
An actor who recently portrayed a beloved saint on screen has now fully come into the Catholic Church in real life.
Shia LaBeouf, a Hollywood veteran and star of director Abel Ferrara’s film “Padre Pio,” received the Sacrament of Confirmation, completing his initiation into the Catholic faith, during the New Year holiday weekend, according to announcements posted Jan. 2 to Facebook and Instagram by the Capuchin Franciscans’ Western American Province.
The friars posted several pictures of a smiling LaBeouf with the friars and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who had previously interviewed the actor through his Word on Fire apostolate.
Capuchin Father Joseph Seraphin Dederick, the provincial, told OSV News that Bishop Barron administered the sacrament to LaBeouf at the Old Mission Santa Inés in Solvang, California, on Dec. 31.
OSV News has reached out to the Capuchins’ Western American Province and Bishop Barron for comment.
“We are thrilled to share that our dear friend Shia LaBeouf has fully entered the Church this past weekend through the Sacrament of Confirmation!” the friars said in their posts, adding that they “are overjoyed to welcome him into the fold and witness his deep commitment to his faith journey.”
UPDATE: CNA offers this intriguing detail:
LaBeouf’s confirmation sponsor, Capuchin friar Brother Alexander Rodriguez, told CNA Wednesday that the actor wants to become a deacon “sometime in the future.”
Rodriguez said that LaBeouf began entertaining the idea of the diaconate during his recent film “Padre Pio.” In that film, LaBeouf played the titular St. Pio of Pietrelcina and Rodriguez played the role of a friar.
“He just spontaneously said, ‘I want to become a deacon,’ and he still feels that way,” Rodriguez said.
