{"slug": "matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in", "title": "Matthew McConaughey teases political ambitions during visit with Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City", "summary": "Actor Matthew McConaughey said a visit with Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City sparked his political ambitions, telling USA Today he is excited about the idea of helping write a constitution that all religions could agree on. McConaughey, who describes himself as politically centrist and considered running for Texas governor in 2021, also discussed artificial intelligence with the pope, saying there is 'great upside' but 'a definite need for caution' so that humans remain the users of the tool.", "body_md": "# Matthew McConaughey teases political ambitions during visit with Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City\n\nBy\n\nJanelle Ash, Fox News\n\nPublished\nAug. 18, 2026, 10:14 p.m. ET\n\nSee more of our coverage in your search results.\n\n[Add Page Six on Google](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=pagesix.com)\n\nMatthew McConaughey’s political ambitions were sparked during his visit with Pope Leo XIV in Italy earlier this month.\n\n[McConaughey spoke to USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2026/08/15/matthew-mcconaughey-pope-leo-ai-politics/91304463007/) about his conversation with the pope and shared whether the conversation swayed his stance on taking political office.\n\nMcConaughey describes himself as politically centrist, and he considered running for Texas governor in 2021. He has also [advocated for bipartisan gun-safety measures](https://nypost.com/2022/06/08/matthew-mcconaugheys-appeal-for-unity-over-guns/) following the 2022 Uvalde school shooting.\n\n“Look, I’m going to use this word ‘religion,’ even though some people are going to tune out when they hear that word,” McConaughey told the outlet. “Life is essentially a religious experience. There’s a lot of things we can learn about living life – how to treat others and how to treat ourselves – through religious texts and teachings. Even though I agree with the separation of church and state, the values of those should bleed down into the values of any political system.”\n\nHe added, “There’s still a constitution out there to be written that all religions could agree on. There’s so much commonality. It’s a constitution that I’m excited about seeing – I don’t know, maybe even adding to or working on. That would be a great thing to share.”\n\nEarlier in the interview, McConaughey told USA Today that he didn’t prepare for the conversation, but knew some topics he wanted to discuss with the religious figure.\n\n“That’s kind of like preparing a speech for winning an award that you don’t know you’re going to win yet. It’s a bit of a coup de grâce: Don’t do it because it’s not going to go as you expected,” McConaughey said.\n\nThe actor continued, “So I had some ideas. I wanted to talk to him about religion in today’s world and where it sits with him as our moral compass. Where is religion today? Why has it declined? Why do we see a surge in youth running toward it? They’ve tried other things that they’re seeing are vapid and don’t really work because they’re looking for more.”\n\nMcConaughey told the outlet that young kids today are “looking for some structure; they’re trying to get more than what the world around them has given them.”\n\n“It’s a good reason to pick some things out of religion, for sure,” he added.\n\nMcConaughey also brought up artificial intelligence during the conversation, per USA Today.\n\n“What are the standards going to be with AI?” McConaughey asked.\n\n“There are already people looking to AI as their digital God. Whether we like what it looks like or not, it is going to represent a true image of mankind by the questions we ask of it and the results we want of it. We may not like what we see when we look in the mirror, but we could also love what we see. It could be a greater truth,” McConaughey continued.\n\n“So there’s great upside and I’m excited about it,” he added, clarifying his stance on AI. “At the same time, there’s a definite need for caution going forward because we’re going to have to be the users of that tool and not let it tool us, so to speak. So those are the subjects, and what we got to talk about will be between [the pope] and I.”\n\n## Conversation\n\nYour voice matters. Discussions are moderated for civility. Read our guidelines", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in", "canonical_source": "https://pagesix.com/2026/08/18/celebrity-news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in-vatican-city/", "published_at": "2026-08-19 02:14:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-19 02:41:56.105388+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Matthew McConaughey", "Pope Leo XIV", "USA Today", "Vatican City", "Texas"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/matthew-mcconaughey-teases-political-ambitions-during-visit-with-pope-leo-xiv-in.jsonld"}}