Pope Francis
Wake Up!
Believe Digital / Multimedia San Paolo
It’s not every papacy I get to cover; mostly I write about washed up rock and rollers and obscure electronica, but THIS is the big time. Pope Francis brings a new face of caring and rationality to the office; never mind the money laundering and other indelicate issues still surrounding the church. This disk offers eleven tracks: there’s an urgent yet mystical New Age sounding drum and pan flute as backing on all the tracks. Male and female vocalists sing some background mystical text, and then segments of various papal address are layered in. Pope F speaks in either Italian or Latin; I honestly can’t tell them apart and Italian is just modernized Latin anyway. The papal segments are the ones the gun-toters despise: be nice to Mother Earth, treat the poor with grace and love, and do all the things Jesus commanded and not just the ones that garner votes in the Midwest.
Pope Francis does sound a good bit like Father Guido Sarducci, but that’s just an accent thing. The choice of current pop music styling rather than ecclesiastical organ music is a deliberate attempt to appear to modern mores, and shows the strength of this papacy: it seeks to meet us on our own level, and not hide behind centuries old ritual. Even if you don’t understand here being said here, it’s still a moving compilation. I sure hope this guy sticks around a few more years, he has restored my faith in faith, and he’s a pretty exciting speaker as well. Fortunately, there are translations included. Listen in peace…
