VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Prominent Jewish commentator Ben Shapiro met Pope Leo today at the close of the weekly audience.
Following the general audience on June 18, the newly elected American Pope Leo XIV received selected clergy and lay guests, as is customary after the audience.
Among that number today was Ben Shapiro, the well known Jewish political commentator and co-founder of the Daily Wire.
Shapiro appeared to give the Pope a baseball signed by the 2005 team of Chicago’s White Sox – which both Shapiro and Leo support. He also handed the Pope a letter, though no information has yet been released by the Daily Wire as to the topic of their brief conversation.
The Orthodox Jew declined to kiss the Pope’s ring or remove his Yamaka, or Jewish skull-cap.
Shapiro stated afterwards that he said to Leo: “Your Holiness, I wanted to express my appreciation for your strength in standing for Biblical values in a world of darkness.” He added: “Also, I’m a lifelong White Sox fan. So while you’re Catholic and I’m Jewish, I think a miracle we can both agree on is the 2005 White Sox winning the World Series.”
In recent years, Shapiro has risen to fame as one of the leading political commentators among conservatives in America, along with fellow presenters at the Daily Wire such as Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles.
The Orthodox Jew has become a phenomenon especially in relation to his often viral videos debating pro-abortion students at universities. Chris Pandolfo commented on Conservative Review after one such instance of Shapiro speaking at UC Berkeley: “It’s clear why Berkeley was so reluctant to have Shapiro speak on campus. Every time he opens his mouth, liberal arguments are annihilated.”
He has won the support of many conservatives, and Catholics, in America due to his vocal opposition to aspects of the culture wars surrounding life and the family and the eloquence with which he presents the arguments.
The commentator’s influence has also grown during the Biden administration, as the Daily Wire and other alternative conservative media gained new prominence amid the heated debate between Republicans and Democrats.
But Shapiro has also come under fire for his anti-Catholic rhetoric.
Discussions over the Kingship of Christ went viral last year after Candace Owens was forced to leave the Daily Wire because she frequently invoked the phrase on X and on her podcast. Executives at the company, which was co-founded by Shapiro, claimed the phrase had “anti-Semitic” connotations.
In the recent debate between Owens and Shapiro, video clips resurfaced showing Shapiro telling Joe Rogan several years ago that he believes Jesus Christ was “a Jew who tried to lead a revolt against the Romans and got killed for his trouble.”
He also noted that he did not believe Christ rose from the dead since “that’s not a Jewish belief. Yeah, no, we’re not into miracle stories.”
Prior to the recent debate, Shapiro also drew the ire of leading Catholics for some anti-Catholic postings on social media. In 2014 he was criticized by Catholics for posting mockingly about the wounds Christ suffered while He hung on the cross.
.@ElishaKrauss wins with this comment on Jesus’ “hands up, don’t shoot” pose: “it should be hands up, don’t nail.” pic.twitter.com/4RL9N4T2KE
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 29, 2014
Then again in 2020, for posting online that the follow-up to Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ should be titled “The Passion II: He Won’t Be Crossed Again.”
The Passion II: He Won’t Be Crossed Again https://t.co/uuFwfDkm3U
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 22, 2020
Commenting on Leo’s election in May, Shapiro noted that “I have no stake in him spiritually, in terms of him being a leader of a church.”
However, he added that Leo is a “very important world leader because so many people are in fact Catholic, and the Catholic Church has been been a deeply important centerpiece in Western Civilization since its foundations were laid 2,000 years ago.”
Shapiro criticized Pope Francis for his “progressive” focus, but also for the late pope’s calling the deaths in Gaza a “genocide.” This latter “is just an absurdity on every possible level,” Shapiro responded.
For his part, Leo has made repeated calls for peace in relation to the various conflicts currently raging across the globe, so far adhering to a generally diplomatic tone.
