Pope Francis to Release Rock Album ‘Wake Up!’

Back in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI released a Christmas album called Alma Mater and was even heard singing on one of the tracks, a chant in which he was leading the choir.

“In the ’70s, I founded the prog-rock band Le Orme and topped the charts, toured Italy and United Kingdom and had the chance to collaborate with global artists like Peter Hammil and David Jackson”, he tells Rolling Stone magazine.

The Vamps plan on releasing the first single from their new album, also called “Wake Up”, On October. 2.

The multilingual album features prayers and speeches from the Argentine-born pope, set to newly composed music. Forward!’ on SoundCloud now.

“I tried to be strongly faithful to the pastoral and personality of Pope Francis: the Pope of dialogue, open doors, hospitality”, he was quoted as saying. And contemporary music (rock, pop, Latin etc.) dialogues with the Christian tradition of sacred hymns. But Pope Francis might have more crossover appeal than his predecessors. “For this reason, the voice of Pope Francis in ‘Wake Up!’ dialogues music”.

The album is now available for pre-order in the iTunes store, but papal prog-rock fans won’t get to hear it until it’s released on November 27.

Proving that he’s the coolest pontiff ever, the head of the holy Roman Catholic Church launched his bid today to rival Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift with the release of ‘Wake Up! Go! Go!

McVey said that although their song “Wake Up” was initially about a girl, the title has multiple meanings for the group. “Forward!” at a South Korean audience, and mutters: “It is a duty to be vigilant, not to allow the pressures, the temptations and the sins to tiresome our sensibility of the beauty of holiness”.