“Imagine” in St. Peter’s Square

I have been in Rome for the past two weeks—actually, I’m here for the entire month (not a work trip per se, but I’m working while I’m here). During that time there has been quite a bit of horrible news from the States, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk (which Peter Wolfgang wrote about for Catholic Culture today). It has been a somber couple of days as I wonder where our country is headed.

There have been some strange goings-on in Rome while I’ve been here, too. I was at the canonization of our two new young saints, which was a lovely experience, but I was unpleasantly aware of the gay invasion of St. Peter’s which had taken place the evening before.

Today I was in St. Peter’s Square again, and suddenly there was a bandstand set up with music blasting—a sound check for a concert tomorrow by Pharrell and a bunch of other pop stars. It felt like such a violation of the space, and I couldn’t help but think about the people making their first and only visit to St. Peter’s, confronted with what sounds like the Latin Grammies... Will they think this is the norm, that St. Peter’s is regularly used as a kind of hip concert venue?

Continued below.

I was shocked when it was sung inside a Church during Jimmy Carter’s funeral.