Shia Labeouf was born in a Catholic family and had a French descent but his mother was a Jew. The actor has always described himself as a Jew until 2014 when he revealed that he converted to Christianity while filming Fury. 

LaBeouf, who will portray Italian priest Francesco Forgione in the upcoming film Padre Pio, talked about how his beliefs changed while working on the film. 

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In an interview with Bishop Robert Barron in his show Word on Fire, the actor spoke candidly about the mental trauma that he faced in the last few years of his life when he was involved in several public scandals. LaBeouf went on a transformation while he was filming for Padre Pio. 

The actor said, “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. I started hearing experiences of other depraved people who had found their way in this, and it made me feel like I had permission.”

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LaBeouf also explained in the interview, “When I walked into this, my life was on fire. I was walking down a hill. It wasn’t like I willingly came in here on a white horse singing show tunes. I came in here on fire, and I didn’t want to be an actor anymore. And my life was a complete mess, and I had hurt a lot of people. I felt deep shame, guilt. I didn’t like to go outside much. I really had a journey here and I was on my way out.”

The actor also revealed how he learned to let go after he spent his days on research at a Catholic seminary. Through this research, he was encouraged to read the Bible and learned to “let go”.