"Among musicians, I love Mozart, of course," the pontiff told Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit paper La Civilta Cattolica, in 2013. "The 'Et incarnatus est' from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God!" Other choices were a bit more eclectic. Wagner was a favorite, but not just any Wagner recording the pope specifically pointed to a performance of the composer's massive Ring cycle, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwangler, captured live in 1950 at La Scala in Milan."
"Like most music buffs, the pope had his favorite record stores. Before rising to the papacy, he frequented Stereosound, a family-owned shop near the Pantheon in Rome. (He paid a visit in 2022 to bless the store after a recent renovation.) His personal collection included tangos by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, Elvis Presley gospel recordings and albums by the French chanson singer Edith Piaf."
"We tend to think of popes as people who are somehow elevated from the rest of us a few steps up the ladder leading to God, perhaps. But Pope Francis, whose birth name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was often thinking of the common citizen, as heard in his comments about migrants, refugees and people on the margins of society. Even for his own funeral proceedings, he elected for a simple wooden coffin."
Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, emphasized humility and concern for migrants, refugees, and people at society's margins. He chose a simple wooden coffin and burial in a modest church rather than St. Peter's Basilica. In his youth in Buenos Aires he worked briefly as a nightclub bouncer. He collected records and spoke enthusiastically about music, citing Mozart's 'Et incarnatus est' as matchless and praising a 1950 Furtwangler Ring cycle performance. His collection included Astor Piazzolla tangos, Elvis Presley gospel recordings, and Edith Piaf albums. He frequented the Stereosound record shop in Rome and later visited to bless it.
Read at www.npr.org
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