Music of the Pope

Pope Benedict XVI plays the piano - Photo: AFP

Pope Benedict XVI played classical music skillfully on the piano for a while, Cardinal Bergoglio asked him if he knew the band The Beatles, if he knew the song Eleanor Rigby by Lennon - McCartney was inspired by a church, if he knew the Abbey Road studio.

The two popes, with their different views on leadership, ultimately connected deeply through music. The conversation may have been fictionalized by the playwright, but it was believable to viewers because the two popes were known to love music.

Pope's Christmas Album

People still love Pope Francis for his simplicity and his "worldliness". Even his love of music seems worldly. When he was young, he, like many people, liked to visit a favorite record store. He also has a personal record collection.

And among them, besides a lot of classical music, it turns out that he, like us, also likes listening to Édith Piaf, also likes Elvis Presley (although they are all gospel records, not rock 'n' roll), also likes the tangos of Astor Piazzolla.

Perhaps because of his open musical taste, the music album Wake Up! based on his prayers, released by Believe Digital and art directed by priest Don Giulio Neroni, is also very unique: the background music ranges from Gregorian chants to progressive rock, even Disney-inspired ballads.

"You can listen to everything from pop to rock, which is something that can only be done with the right Pope Francis," Neroni shared.

Pope Francis' words are familiar, his lifestyle is down-to-earth, so the music he chooses doesn't need to be distant. Even the album title (two short, easy-to-understand English words, with a hearty exclamation mark) is incredibly familiar.

Meanwhile, his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, also released a Christmas album with the Latin title Alma Mater, consisting of eight songs praising the Virgin Mary.

ALMA MATER released Christmas album by Pope Benedict XVI

In contrast to the vibrant contemporary spirit of Wake Up!, Alma Mater has a scholastic, sacred, holy beauty, a beauty that is natural when we think of cathedrals, think of prayers, think of cleansing the body and mind.

A traditional and standard Christian album. If with Wake Up!, one feels like one can turn it on at any time, on any journey to enjoy, then with Alma Mater, one feels like before turning on the music to listen, one must perform rituals to remove worldly dust, to cleanse the body before entering the music.

If there is anything earthy about Alma Mater, it is the fact that it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios – which became a popular music mecca thanks to The Beatles – a detail that The Two Popes has embellished to raise the question: how can we bridge the gap between scripture and real life?

Music is an expression of the spirit

However, if you have the opportunity to go online and watch a short film of Pope Benedict XVI skillfully playing Franz Schubert's Impromptu on the piano, an instrument he learned as a child, then when watching the video with average quality, filmed at home, without a crew, you will still see that he is approachable, and classical music is not at all lofty and difficult to reach.

At a music festival about Mozart many years ago, Pope Benedict XVI appeared and expressed that: "Music is an expression of the spirit, a place within the human being created for all that is true, kind and beautiful...";

And "The most beautiful work of art, the masterpiece of man, is every act of true love, from the smallest sacrifice to the greatest. At that moment life becomes a hymn, the expectation of a symphony we sing together in heaven."

Both Popes are now resting in Heaven. Who knows, maybe the conversation in The Two Popes came true and now these two souls are talking about music and singing together a heavenly "symphony".

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/am-nhac-cua-giao-hoang-2025051108424284.htm