Harry Styles explains surprise appearance at Pope Leo XIV’s election

Harry Styles has finally explained how he ended up among the crowds at the Vatican during the election of Pope Leo XIV, and the story is as unexpected as fans suspected.

The singer, 31, shared the anecdote during an interview with BBC Radio 1 following the release of his new single, Aperture, on Thursday, January 22.

While discussing what he has been up to in recent years, Styles addressed the viral fan photos that showed him standing in Saint Peter’s Square during the papal conclave in May 2025.

According to Styles, his presence at the historic moment was entirely unplanned.

“I was getting a haircut in Rome,” revealed the former One Direction star.

Styles went on to share, “I heard all these people start shouting, ‘Habemus papam! Habemus papam!’ People just running down the street. So the guy cutting my hair stopped cutting my hair, and he was like, ‘Habemus papam! There’s a new pope!’”

“So, then he finished up, and I was like, ‘I’m [a] five minutes walk from there,’ so I walked over there. It was wild,” he added.

The host joked that the newly elected pope might be the only person capable of stealing attention from Styles, prompting the singer to laugh and quip, “I was like, ‘Who’s this getting all this attention?’”