Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Kevin ClarkeNovember 14, 2014

Aging punk-rock fans (are there any other kind?) will be pleased to learn that the irrepressible "Godmother of Punk" (do we really call her that?) Patti Smith has been invited by Pope Francis to perform at the Vatican's annual Christmas concert. Patti will be among 17 other acts due to play at Rome's Conciliation Auditorium on Dec. 13 in a concert that will be broadcast live.

Now some may wonder at such an odd juxtaposition of personalities as Patti and Papa Frank, but it turns out Patti and the pope are old friends, having run into each other at St. Peter's in April last year. Smith famously sang that "Jesus died for someone's sins, but not mine" back in the day. No word on whether or not her decision to perform for Pope Francis means she's changed her mind on that.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time, by Molly Cahill
Molly CahillAugust 04, 2025
As emergency workers searched for survivors and tried to recuperate the bodies of the dead, Pope Leo XIV offered his prayers for people impacted by the latest shipwreck of a migrant boat off the coast of Yemen.
Catholic News ServiceAugust 04, 2025
The Archdiocese of Miami celebrated the first Mass for detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the Trump administration’s controversial immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades.
Eight decades after the end of World War II, Father George Zabelka exists as a symbol of conscience, one who can communicate the message of Gospel nonviolence.
Ryan Di CorpoAugust 04, 2025