VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Christmas season is a time to reflect on what life is all about, Pope Francis told an international group of performers.
“The time before Christmas calls us to ask ourselves, ‘What is it that I am waiting for in my life? What is the great desire of my heart?’ You too, with your songs, help awaken or reawaken this healthy human ‘yearning’ in the hearts of many people,” he said. The pope met with the performers Dec. 13, the day before they were to perform in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall for a benefit concert to help protect the Amazon and support indigenous communities there.
The lineup was scheduled to include Lionel Richie, the U.S. Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter; Susan Boyle, who was a 2009 finalist on “Britain’s Got Talent;” and Bonnie Tyler, whose songs “It’s a Heartache” and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” are among the best-selling singles of all time.
The Charleston Gospel Choir and several Italian performers were also part of the lineup for the 2019 “Christmas Concert in the Vatican,” sponsored by the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education. The pope told the performers and concert organizers that God is the author of the “yearning” people feel in their heart, “and he comes to meet us by this route.”
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