Bishop Barron says he met Shia LaBeouf a few years ago when he was giving a talk to deacons about prayer. At that time, the actor was staying with the Capuchin friars at the Old Mission Santa Inés (California) as part of his preparation for the role of Padre Pio.
“(Shia) said to me, ‘Do you mind if I listen to your talk?’ And so she came, with that intense, familiar expression, and she listened. Then, when the movie was finally ready, she invited a group of us to watch it, and so we did. Then Deacon Chris asked him, ‘Tell me what this meant to you on a personal level.’ And it was a moving testimony, about 30 minutes talking about what this movie meant to him. So I said, ‘Would you mind if we recorded that?’ He was about to leave for my new mission, so we sat in the studio and did the interview that had a massive impact on people all over the world. I hear about it every day, people who were so touched by what he said about the spiritual life,” Bishop Barron recounted.
In the aforementioned interview, LaBeouf revealed: “Now I know that God was using my ego to draw me towards Him, away from worldly desires. “Everything was happening simultaneously.”