This new Pope is really one of the kind! According to the Independent, he has invited Patti Smith, the godmother of punk, to perform at the Vatican’s annual Christmas concert!! How is this happening? Of course, Patti will only be one of the 18 acts invited to play at Rome’s Conciliation Auditorium on December 13th, and I don’t know the others, mostly Italian participants, but I guess this invite marks the beginning of a new area.
Patti Smith actually met and shook hands with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square last spring, and she found him ‘very interesting’. She has also been vocal about the Bible after recording the lullaby for Darren Aronofsky’s biblical remake ‘Noah’, declaring to the Independent: ‘It has everything – creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. It doesn’t really matter what religion you are or if you have no religion, those stories are still relevant to what people go through in their lives and they’re also beautifully written passages,’ and to Rolling Stone, ‘ I have a very strong biblical background, I studied the bible quite a bit when I was young and continue to study it, independent of any religion, but I still study it’.
Patti Smith, who once wrote the line ‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine’ on her cover of Them’s ‘Gloria’, left organized religion as a teenager after a strong biblical upbringing, and despite an avid interest in Tibetan Buddhism around 11, she has declared that religious dogmas are ‘man-made laws’… but I guess she has been interested in spirituality long enough to be a good candidate for the Pope.
Of course, this doesn’t please everybody, and Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno reports that a Naples church is debating whether or not to allow Smith to play at their concert, as they don’t want her to sing ‘Because The Night’ because of ‘blasphemy’!!
What a bunch of retrogrades, you know what’s blasphemy? Poverty! And this Pope understands it very well as he is planning to install showers in the public restrooms in St. Peter’s Square, for homeless people. Add this to all the things he has said recently, oh small things such as ‘God is not a magician with a magic wand’, or the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real things, and you get the coolest Pope ever, especially now that he is Patti Smith’s buddy… Actually, there is another well-known performer invited at this Christmas concert, singing nun Sister Cristina Scuccia, who won Italy’s version of The Voice, and covered Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ for her first single! Is the Vatican changing or what?
