Shia LaBeouf Confirmed Into Catholic Church, Considers Becoming a Deacon

Shia LaBeouf has been received into the Catholic Church after taking the sacrament of confirmation, and is reportedly considering becoming a deacon.

The Catholic News Agency reports that the Transformers star was confirmed Sunday by Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota. “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 Capuchin Franciscans from Western American Province said in a statement posted to Facebook.

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Speaking with the Catholic News Agency, LaBeouf’s confirmation sponsor Brother Alexander Rodriguez said that the actor wants to become a deacon “sometime in the future,” adding that LaBeouf was inspired to consider the diaconate while filming Abel Ferrara’s Padre Pio. In the 2020 biographical film, LaBeouf plays Padre Pio, an Italian priest who received the stigmata.

“He just spontaneously said, ‘I want to become a deacon,’ and he still feels that way,” Rodriguez said.

LaBeouf, a product of an interfaith marriage, was raised both Jewish by his mother and Christian by his father and had both a bar mitzvah and a baptism. The actor has said in previous interviews that he was drawn to Catholicism amid alcoholism and difficulties in his personal life, including a December 2020 lawsuit filed by former girlfriend FKA Twigs, who accused LaBeouf of “relentless abuse,” sexual battery, assault and emotional distress. The trial is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 14.

The actor converted to Catholicism after filming Padre Pio, and told The Hollywood Reporter that Mel Gibson had taken him under his wing and introduced him to things like Latin Mass.

“[Gibson] was cautious with me. Many years ago, I went to his house and told him to his face that his religious views and politics were a hindrance to his craft. He giggled with grace and told me to read about the Maccabees” LaBeouf told THR in an interview. “As I fell forward, he always remained supportive.”

THR has reached out to LaBeouf’s reps for comment about the actor becoming a deacon.

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