Mario Lopez Recalls ‘Incredible’ Meeting With Pope Leo XIV While Raising Kids in Catholic School

Danielle Campoamor and Mike VulpoSun, May 3, 2026 at 5:52 PM UTC

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Saved By the Bell star Mario Lopez will never forget meeting Pope Leo XIV.

“When I was in Italy, I was working there for the Winter Olympics, and then we had a little honeymoon after just to go into Florence and Milan, Rome,” Lopez, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, May 1, while attending Calamigos Ranch Resort & Spa’s Leading Hotels of the World accreditation celebration. “I just kind of worked some back channels to meet the Holy Father.”

He continued, “We got to go to mass. It was incredible. I’ll never forget it. He blessed my cross, too.”

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, is the first pope to have been born in the United States. He became the head of the Catholic church and sovereign of Vatican City on May 8, 2025, following the death of Pope Francis at the age of 88.

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Lopez has been open about his Catholic faith, telling Us on Friday that he has “never been reluctant to be vocal about it.”

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“I don’t want to push it on anyone by any means, but I’m not ashamed if asked and I think it’s important for family and to set structure and to have a great foundation,” Lopez explained. “Father Jim is our buddy … I talked to Stanley Tucci today because he was in the movie Conclave.”

He added, “My kids go to Catholic school. It was important for us to have our kids have a faith based education. So they love it. It's great. And my daughter goes to an all girls Catholic school. So it works out well for us.”

Following Pope Leo XIV’s appointment, Catholic churches across the country have experienced an influx of believers, per The New York Times. This Easter, the Archdiocese of Detroit received 1,428 new Catholics into the church — the highest number of new members the church welcomed in 21 years, per the outlet. Other archdiocese, from Houston, Texas, to Des Moines, Iowa, have experienced a similar trend.

“In our age of uncertainty, and in our age of great anxiety, is a thirst and hunger for God and stability that faith brings to people’s lives,” Archbishop Mitchell Thomas Rozanski of St. Louis, Missouri, told The New York Times in March, adding that his church is reporting numbers they haven’t seen since 2016.

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“I think technology has isolated us from one other. I think that Covid just really magnified that isolation,” he added. “We are realizing many of the ills of our society, particularly anxiety and depression, come about from that isolation.”

Lopez told Us that he’s “been reading” reports that more people are turning to Catholicism amid social and political unrest, adding that he thinks it’s “great.”

“In a world that’s constantly changing and things might get scary, it’s always nice to lean towards faith and something that’s greater than you,” he continued, “that can guide you in ways to give you comfort.”

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