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

Athletes who never make mistakes, who never lose, do not exist. Champions are not perfectly functioning machines, but real men and women, who, when they fall, find the courage to get back on their feet.
Pope Leo XIVJune 15, 2025
In his video message at White Sox stadium, Pope Leo encouraged young people to look inside themselves, recognize God’s presence in their own hearts and “recognize that God is present and that, perhaps in many different ways, God is reaching out to you,
Pope Leo XIVJune 14, 2025
The June 14 celebration featured the first-ever airing of Pope Leo XIV’s video message to the world’s youth at the White Sox stadium in Chicago’s Southside.
Pope Leo XIV prays at the conclusion of an audience with pilgrims in Rome for the Holy Year 2025 in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 14, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Pope Leo called for a “commitment to build a world that is safer and free from the nuclear threat.”
Gerard O’ConnellJune 14, 2025