Actor and former bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno, who starred as television’s Incredible Hulk, met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Wednesday, fulfilling what he called a lifelong dream.
Mr. Ferrigno briefly spoke with Leo at the end of the American pope general audience in St. Peter’s Square, The Associated Press reported.
“I’m here because it’s a lifelong dream for me to meet the pope,” he told reporters.
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Mr. Ferrigno said that one side of his family comes from Italy’s southern Amalfi region and that he grew up hearing about the pope in his Catholic Italian family.
“I’m very, very honored to be here to see Pope Leo, because it’s my whole life, it’s a dream coming true,” he said.
Mr. Ferrigno posed for photographers, raising his fists and bringing them down in a smashing motion — mimicking the gesture that made him famous in the on-screen transformation from Bruce Banner into the superhero Hulk.
A retired professional bodybuilder, Mr. Ferrigno starred as the Marvel Comics character in CBS’ “The Incredible Hulk” from 1977 to 1982 before moving on to other television and film roles.
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