Pope Francis loved music, including classical

Pope Francis, the first non-European head of the Roman Catholic Church in more than a millennium, died Monday at age 88. Francis was one of the most popular popes in decades and a towering figure on the world stage, addressing not just Catholics but the men and women of our time.

As one might expect from such an engaged figure, Pope Francis was well known as a fan of music, cinema and soccer. As a music fan, Francis even had a favorite record store in Rome — StereoSound, on Via della Minerva, near the Pantheon — which he began visiting when he first started making visits to Rome as Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Naturally, Bergoglio’s visits to StereoSound decreased when he became Pope Francis, but he made headlines in January 2022 when he visited the store to give a blessing to the owners after they had completed a renovation of the retail space. Just before he left, the owners presented Pope Francis with an album of classical music as a gift.

“The Holy Father is passionate about music,” StereoSound’s owner, Letizia Giostra, confirmed to Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera following the visit.

Classical music was among the genres Francis most appreciated. In 2013, the newly named Pope Francis talked about his favorite classical composers; specifically, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and Wagner. In an interview with America magazine, Francis said, “Among musicians I love Mozart, of course. The ‘Et incarnatus est’ from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God! I love Mozart performed by [Romanian pianist] Clara Haskil. Mozart fulfills me. But I cannot think about his music; I have to listen to it.

“I like listening to Beethoven,” Francis continued, “but in a Promethean way, and the most Promethean interpreter for me is [Wilhelm] Furtwängler.

“And then Bach’s Passions,” Francis said. “The piece by Bach that I love so much is the ‘Erbarme Dich,’ the tears of Peter in the ‘St. Matthew Passion.’ Sublime. Then, at a different level, not intimate in the same way, I love Wagner. I like to listen to him, but not all the time. The performance of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ by Furtwängler at La Scala in Milan in 1950 is for me the best. But also the ‘Parsifal’ by [conductor Hans] Knappertsbusch in 1962.”

The Pope's interest in Wagner is striking given the composer's idiosyncratic views on religion. Wagner wrote that Parsifal was conceived on Good Friday 1857, but it also was inspired by Eastern spirituality, including Buddhism. 

According to Udiscover Music, the pope was quite the music collector. Francis’ music library, which was curated by the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, included nearly 2,000 CDs and 19 vinyl records. While most of the library consisted of classical music, it also included recordings by French singer Édith Piaf, music by Argentine tango musician Astor Piazzola, and even some of Elvis Presley’s Gospel songs.

The cardinal said the pope told him his love of music came from boyhood, listening to an opera program on the radio with his mother. “He sent me the complete collection of recordings at the Teatro Colón [opera house] of Buenos Aires,” he said. He added that the pope often sent music accompanied by handwritten notes with “extraordinary, expert” comments. “You can see that he listens to the music carefully,” Ravasi said.

To honor Pope Francis, you might play any of his favorite pieces referenced above, or listen to the official Pope’s Anthem, written by French composer Charles Gounod for the coronation of Pope Pius IX in 1869. Read more about it in this post written for Classical MPR during Pope Francis’ state visit to the United States in 2015.