Shia LaBeouf has announced a major career change after his conversion to a new religion.
Over the past few years, LaBeouf has been at the center of lots of controversy.
In 2020, LaBeouf’s ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs, sued him for physical, mental and emotional abuse, per The New York Times.
He was also fired from the set of Don’t Worry Darling as a result of his erratic behavior.
But now, LaBeouf has seemingly turned over a new leaf.
He’s undergone a religious conversion – and even announced a major career change inspired by his newfound faith.
Following the allegations leveraged against LaBeouf, he sought help in a facility.
Soon after, he was cast in the titular role in 2022’s Padre Pio.
To help him get into the role, LaBeouf studied Catholicism – and it appears to have had a major impact on the star.
The actor has said that the opportunity to play the mystic Capuchin monk, best known for having displayed the ‘stigmata’ wounds of Christ, was a personal miracle, per AP.
The Transformers actor converted to Catholicism based on his role as the venerated saint.
LaBeouf had told CNA that playing the role of the saint while filming in the monastery and town Padre Pio occupied made the experience extremely intense.
“It’s enormous pressure, but it only served the film,” he said. “There are scenes where we’re running Mass and these aren’t actors in the seats. These are God-fearing people who love Pio and you feel it, and it only adds to the stakes.”
In spite of this intensity, LaBeouf said: “I have never, in the course of my entire career, been on a set where the film felt easier to make.”
“When I got here, a switch happened,” he further elaborated to the Catholic Herald. “It was like Three-Card Monte. It was like someone tricked me into it, it felt like. Not in a bad way. In a way that I couldn’t see it. I was so close to it that I couldn’t see it. I see it differently now that time has passed.”
“It was seeing other people who have sinned beyond anything I could ever conceptualize also being found in Christ that made me feel like, ‘Oh, that gives me hope,’” he continued.
“I started hearing experiences of other depraved people who had found their way in this, and it made me feel like I had permission.”
He added: “The reach-out had happened. I was already there, I had nowhere to go. This was the last stop on the train. There was nowhere else to go – in every sense.
“I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him. Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously.”
LaBeouf revealed in an interview last year with Bishop Robert Barron, of the Winona-Rochester diocese in Minnesota, that he was previously agnostic before converting to Catholicism.
While he had a bar mitzvah at age 13, he mentioned that he never fully embraced Judaism.
In an email to The Associated Press, Barron described LaBeouf’s conversion as ‘a testament to God’s grace,’ noting that ‘God seems to specialize in finding the lost.’
He further referenced Jesus’ words, ‘I have come not for the righteous but for sinners,’ emphasizing that ‘forgiveness is always available; redemption is always possible.’
LaBeouf’s confirmation sponsor, Brother Alexander Rodriguez, a Capuchin friar, explained to the AP that LaBeouf’s faith journey was closely tied to the personal challenges and mistakes he had faced.
“He would not have become a Catholic if he had not gone through the personal difficulties and sins that we know about,” Rodriguez said during a phone interview.
He added that these struggles, along with portraying Padre Pio, helped LaBeouf discover God.
Padre Pio, who passed away in 1968, was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and has since become one of the most revered saints in Italy, the U.S., and beyond.
The Capuchin Friars Minor, a Catholic religious order following the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi, states on its website that its mission is to serve the poor and live the Gospel ‘through fraternity, simplicity, and contemplative prayer.’
But now, LaBeouf has taken his spiritual journey one step further.
He’s been confirmed into the Catholic Church – with the aim of becoming a deacon!
LaBeouf has been photographed receiving the sacrament of confirmation at the Old Mission Santa Inés Parish in Solvang, California, reports Fox News.
“His decision to fully enter the Church is a testament to his sincere desire to grow in his relationship with God and live out the Gospel values,” the Capuchin Franciscans-Western American Province says in a statement shared on their Facebook page.
“We are thrilled to share that our dear friend Shia LaBeouf has fully entered the Church this past weekend through the sacrament of confirmation!” the organization continues.
“As Capuchin Franciscans, we believe in the transformative power of faith and the incredible impact it can have on one’s life. We are humbled and grateful to walk alongside Shia as he takes this important step in his spiritual journey.”
And that’s not all.
LaBeouf also has plans to advance his career in the direction of his newfound faith.
Rodriguez, LaBeouf’s confirmation sponsor, tells the Catholic News Agency that the actor plans to be a deacon ‘sometime in the future.’
“He just spontaneously said, ‘I want to become a deacon,’ and he still feels that way,” Rodriguez adds.
The office would permit LaBeou to perform some of the functions of a priest, such as preaching and officiating at marriages, per the Catholic Herald.
Watch the Padre Pio trailer below …