US actor and director Sylvester Stallone visited Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the Catholic world and head of state of the Vatican, with his family at the Vatican.

A video of the meeting was posted on the social media app X. In the footage, it was seen that the Pope said to the Hollywood star, who is remembered for his Rocky movies, "We grew up with your movies," and Stallone responded to the Pope by showing his fists and asking, "Are you into boxing?" The Pope responded by showing his fists to the veteran actor, which caused smiles.

Stallone, who was born in New York in 1946 to a father who immigrated to the United States from Italy in the 1930s, had received honorary citizenship the previous day in his father's hometown of Gioia del Colle in southeastern Italy.