Pope Benedict XVI's top rock album is The Beatles' Revolver, according to the Vatican's official newspaper.
L'Osservatore Romano has published a list of the albums it considers the best of all time. It describes the list as "A little handbook of musical resistance could be useful during this time of the year in which, in addition to having put up with the rigours of winter, we have to endure a rising tide of musical festivals."
The Catholic newspaper's chart also included Oasis, U2, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson. The list, compiled by Giuseppe Fiorentino and Gaetano Vallini, contains the following:
- The Beatles: Revolver
- David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name
- Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon
- Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
- Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
- Michael Jackson: Thriller
- Paul Simon: Graceland
- U2: Achtung Baby
- Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
- Carlos Santana: Supernatural
The albums on the list may seem somewhat less than holy, given the inclusion of such drug-meddlers as Fleetwood Mac, Oasis, David Crosby and The Beatles. Nonetheless, the less-than-holy Beatles Bible would like to give kudos to L'Osservatore Romano for a surprisingly well-informed list.
In November 2008 L'Osservatore Romano famously forgave John Lennon for his 1966 remark that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.
Okay, it's a great album but "The Nightfly"? Does the Pope know that Donald Fagen is also in a band named after a certain phallic pleasuring device?
Especially interesting, as this is the album with Eleanor Rigby and many Catholic references. The list seems to indicate that this is just favorite rock and roll, with religion aside for the moment. But I wonder what he thinks of Lady Madonna?
Lady Madonna wasn't really religious - the title was just a poetic metaphor for an ordinary mother.