The Holy Father certainly has a sense of humor! 😂
Italian skier and Olympic gold medalist Simone Deromedis recently met with Pope Leo during the Vatican audience.
Deromedis won the Freestyle Skiing Men's Ski Cross on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. He won Italy’s first-ever gold medal in this category.
In a viral reel posted by ChurchPOP’s Instagram account, Deromedis shows Pope Leo his gold medal during their meeting at the Vatican. Pope Leo then jokes with the Olympian, pretending to keep it for himself. The pope then smiles and returns the medal to Deromedis.
The meeting between the Olympian and the Holy Father generated over two million views and thousands of likes and comments.
Here is ChurchPOP’s video of Pope Leo and Simone Deromedis below:
The video’s caption reads,
“Pope Leo XIV met with Italian Olympic and Paralympic athletes at the Vatican today, praising sport as a school of fraternity and inclusion. One especially joyful moment came when an athlete handed him a gold medal, and the Pope playfully pretended to keep it before returning it with a smile.”
Simone Deromedis also published the video, reacting to the Holy Father’s joke in the reel’s text and caption:
Deromedis’s text overlay reads,
“POV: The Pope tries to steal your Olympic medal.”
The Olympic gold medalist then provides his reaction in the caption:
“I was so confused 😭😂 / Leone, you’re the best!”
Hundreds of reactions flooded the comments on both ChurchPOP’s and Deromedis’ reels. Here’s what some people said about it:
“What a great moment of spontaneity!” one user told Deromedis.
“He was doing this, but then he remembered one of the 10 commandments 😂,” another user joked.
“He is such a jokester,” another user said in ChurchPOP’s comments. “I love a Pope with a good heart and sense of humor.”
“God bless our Holy Father Leo,” another person said. “I love his sense of humor.”