BREAKING: Leonardo DiCaprio pays emotional tribute to Pope Francis after his death at 88

Hollywood legend Leonardo DiCaprio has paid emotional tribute to after .

DiCaprio, 50, posted photographs of himself and himself on social media. The actor wrote: "Pope Francis was a transformational leader — not only for the Catholic Church, but also for environmental reform and activism. He demonstrated a deep and unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship, most notably through his groundbreaking 2015 encyclical Laudato Si."

The pair met nine years ago, a rendezvous DiCaprio said he fondly remembers. The star, who has won three Golden Globe Awards including for The Wolf of Wall Street, added: "This powerful document served as a clarion call for a fundamental shift in how we relate to the planet. Emphasizing the interconnectedness of all life, Pope Francis urged individuals, communities, institutions, and leaders to unite in caring for our common home. His words helped catalyze momentum ahead of the global 2015 COP21 conference, ultimately contributing to the formation of the Paris Agreement.

"During the filming of my documentary Before the Flood in 2016, I had the honor of sitting down with Pope Francis for a conversation on the urgent need to address climate change. That experience was enlightening, deeply moving and thought provoking."

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The lengthy statement added: "In 2023, Pope Francis expanded upon Laudato Si’ with the publication of Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation on the Climate Crisis. In it, he renewed his call for immediate and decisive climate action, reminding us that “we are part of Nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it,” and that we must not view the world from the outside, but from within.

"Pope Francis was one of the most extraordinary spiritual leaders of our time. His legacy will continue to inspire generations of environmentalists around the world. May he rest in peace."

DiCaprio, from Los Angeles, California, has long been an outspoken advocate for environmental issues and established The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 aged 24 with the mission of bringing attention and funding to the protection of biodiversity, ocean and forest conservation, and climate change.

Legendary director and DiCaprio's longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese also lauded the Pope as a "remarkable human being" in a statement to . He said: "There is so much that can be said about the significance of Pope Francis and everything he meant to the world, to the church, to the papacy. I will leave that to others. He was, in every way, a remarkable human being. He acknowledged his own failings. He radiated wisdom.

"He radiated goodness. He had an ironclad commitment to the good. He knew in his soul that ignorance was a terrible plague on humanity. So he never stopped learning. And he never stopped enlightening. And, he embraced, preached and practiced forgiveness. Universal and constant forgiveness.

"The loss for me runs deep — I was lucky enough to know him, and I will miss his presence and his warmth. The loss for the world is immense. But he left a light behind, and it can never be extinguished."