Pope Meets Sylvester Stallone, Saying His Family "Grew Up With" His Movies

Pope Francis is not only a Rocky fan, but he also has a decent left-handed jab. The head of the Catholic Church recently met with Sylvester Stallone and his family and talked about his fondness for the actor's films.

On Twitter/X, the Vatican News account shared a short video of the two conversing with each other. Stallone expressed his appreciation that the Pope "took time from your very busy day" to chat with his family. That led to Pope Francis saying he was honored as well, adding, "we grew up with your films!"

Not missing a beat, Stallone playfully responded: "Ready? We box!" Pope Francis countered with his own punches as the group laughed.

The first Rocky film was released in 1976, when Pope Francis was 40 years old. So he wasn't exactly a kid when he watched the iconic boxing film. But, at the same time, it's been almost 50 years since the movie premiered in theaters. There have now been nine films overall in the Rocky film franchise, including the recent Creed trilogy.

Stallone will next be seen in Expendables 4, which got a red band trailer full of blood and F-bombs last month. That's because the film will be rated R after the previous installment in the action series was PG-13.

Expendables 4 will premiere in theaters September 22.