Lou Ferrigno met Pope Leo XIV after the Vatican's general audience Wednesday, fulfilling a childhood dream and giving St. Peter's Square the rare opportunity to host an American television Hulk without damage to the colonnade.
Ferrigno, who played the green superhero on CBS from 1977 to 1982, grew up in an Italian Catholic family and served as an altar boy. He told reporters that meeting the pope had been a lifelong ambition.
The Hulk came with a peace message
Ferrigno praised Leo's emphasis on kindness and peace, saying the world needs leadership amid widespread turmoil. He also flexed for photographers in the pose familiar to viewers who remember when television transformation required green paint, contact lenses and a bodybuilder rather than 600 digital-effects artists.
Pope Leo's own television memories include Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the American bishop whose religious programs made him a mid-century broadcasting celebrity. Whether the Chicago-born pope watched The Incredible Hulk remains unknown.
Faith and pop culture met without a sales pitch
The encounter was brief, personal and joyful. It did not require a movie promotion, policy debate or social-media feud. Ferrigno simply wanted to meet the leader of the church in which he was raised.
The Associated Press reported Ferrigno's Vatican meeting and comments on September 30, 2026.
For Gen X viewers, the scene connected two childhood institutions: Sunday Catholicism and prime-time television. Ferrigno got his dream, Leo got the world's most recognizable altar-boy success story, and nobody needed to warn the Swiss Guard not to make him angry.
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