CULTURE

Happy Saturday, Katy Perry Is Hanging Out With the Pope and Orlando Bloom at the Vatican

It looks like Perry and Bloom are back on for real.

by Katherine Cusumano

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE
ANDREAS SOLARO/Getty Images

“Happy Saturday, everyone!” Katy Perry chirps in a video posted to her Instagram Stories earlier today. “I’m here in Rome, at the Vatican. I’m about to speak on meditation; I’m with my mama, my darling, and my manager, Steve,” she says, beaming and panning the camera to show each of the above.

It’s a relatively simple clip, but there’s actually a lot going on in just a few seconds: She and her aforementioned “darling,” the actor Orlando Bloom, touched down in Rome this weekend to attend the Unite to Cure conference, where they met the Pope during a service that looks to have been at the Vatican. Perry and Bloom, who famously went paddleboarding in the nude together, split in 2016, but they were rumored to have reconciled earlier this year; since they’re now visiting holy sites together, it’s fair to assume the rumors are true.

The singer donned an all-black ensemble with a pillbox fascinator for her summit with the Pope—dressing for the occasion, if the occasion were the death of an old family patriarch and Perry were cast as the wicked stepmother interloper. Before entering the cathedral, where she would meet the Pope, she had a bit of fun with some of the Vatican staff (guards? bloomer’ed disciples?), judging by her Instagram Stories—she followed them as they marched across a cobblestone courtyard.

Perry’s Instagram Stories meander through the last day of the conference (it ran Thursday to Saturday), taking in the grand architecture of the Vatican and culminating with a handshake with His Holiness himself. (Bloom, on the other hand, has not posted anything from their Italian sojourn; his last Instagram post was a photo with his 98-year-old grandmother.)

Perry was raised by evangelical Christian parents; in an interview with Vogue last year, she described the Christian singer Amy Grant as her “Madonna” and discussed how she would hand out flyers with titles like “How to Find God” at Marilyn Manson concerts. (Manson, too, incorporates religious imagery into his aesthetic, but with a decidedly more Satanic inclination.) Bloom, for his part, has apparently been Buddhist since he was 16—Unite for Cure was, by all reports, a multidenominational affair. Perry is going to be the most prepared attendee of next Monday’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala.

A Photographic Guide to Everyone Katy Perry Has Dated

Early on in her career, Perry dated actor Johnny Lewis from 2004-2005.

Getty

The pair split in 2006; Lewis was best known for his role on Sons of Anarchy and passed away in 2012.

Getty

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes singer Travis McCoy beginning in 2006.

Getty

Perry appeared as the love interest in the band’s music video for the song “Cupid’s Chokehold.”

Getty

The pair split in December 2008 after two years of dating.

Getty

Perry met comedian Russell Brand in mid-2009 when she filmed a cameo for his film Get Him to the Greek.

Getty

The two became engaged on New Year’s Eve 2009 during a holiday in India, and married on October 23, 2010.

Getty

On December 30, 2011, Brand filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Getty

Katy Perry started dating singer John Mayer in 2012.

Getty

The pair made many high profile appearances together, including the Grammy Awards.

Getty

Mayer and Perry split in 2015 after nearly three years together.

Lester Cohen

After splitting with Mayer, Perry had a quick romance with DJ Diplo.

Getty

Perry was first spotting flirting with Orlando Bloom at a 2016 Golden Globe Party.

Getty

The actor and musician were spotted heading on vacation together, including one infamous naked paddle-boarding picture.

Getty

Bloom and Perry split early in 2017, after attending the Vanity Fair Oscars Party in February of this year.

Dave M. Benett/VF17
1/15