Robert Redford meets Pope Francis at the Vatican

Robert Redford shook hands with Pope Francis during the pontiff’s weekly general audience in Vatican City on Wednesday.

The 83-year-old actor-director, who was joined by wife Sibylle Szaggars, glowed as he briefly met with the head of the Catholic Church, who in the past has shaken the hands of Hollywood heavyweights Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Angelina Jolie.

Redford has lauded Pope Francis’ advocacy for climate change in the past, writing an essay for MSNBC in 2015 in which he described the religious leader as someone who finally “moved” “the needle.”

“The pontiff’s timely message of more dialogue and less discord, respect for life in all of its stages, and a call to protect our common home was irrepressible and impossible to ignore,” he wrote. “Sometimes you need a friend to tell you the truth.

“It took someone from outside the US to come and remind us who we are – and who we are supposed to be.”