\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPatti Smith<\/a> met Pope Leo XIV<\/a> on Friday at the Vatican, with the singer and the pontiff, two Chicago natives, sitting down for a 40-minute conversation\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tJust days after Smith performed in Rome, she visited the pope in a meeting arranged by Rev. Antonio Spadaro, undersecretary in the Vatican\u2019s culture ministry and a friend of Smith\u2019s.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis is a moment that shall forever produce a smile,\u201d Smith wrote on Instagram of the encounter.<\/p>\n \n\tUpon first meeting, Smith greeted Pope Leo XIV with \u201cHi, hi,\u201d uttered in the same way she said it on her 1979 song \u201cWave,\u201d<\/a> a track that imagines a conversation with Pope John Paul I, who died after a 33-day papacy in 1978. Pope Leo XIV was familiar with \u201cWave\u201d and immediately recognized the reference. \u201cThat was marvelous,\u201d he told Smith (via The Associated Press<\/em>).<\/p>\n \n