In an incident that sounds like a setup for a surreal short story, Pope Francis — the late head of the Catholic Church, spiritual guide to over a billion people, and unexpected culture enthusiast — was spotted doing something unthinkably ordinary in January 2022: browsing a record store in Rome.
The shop in question, Stereosound, is not some boutique label fronting as an ironic gallery space. It is, by all accounts, a fairly unremarkable establishment — except, of course, for the fact that the actual Pope has visited it. According to the store’s owner, this wasn’t even a one-off whim. Whenever the Pontiff was in town on official Church business, he would stop by.
This wasn't some stiff PR exercise or a hollow gesture for goodwill optics. The Holy Father, it turns out, was deeply, obsessively, passionately into music.
Speaking to Father Antonio Spadaro in 2013, Pope Francis named names, composers, conductors, and specific interpretations.
“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 Clara Haskil. Mozart fulfills me.” It wasn’t a passing comment. He went on. Beethoven “in a Promethean way.” Wagner, “but not all the time.”
So when Reuters confirmed that the Pope left that record store with a classical CD in hand — it made perfect sense. Here was a man with not just a refined taste in music, but a precise, bordering on obsessive curatorial eye.
And the depth of it all? According to Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, his personal collection spanned over 2,000 CDs. Edith Piaf. Argentine tango. Elvis Presley’s gospel catalogue in its daunting, 25-disc entirety. Yes, really.
One imagines the Vatican’s archives are stacked with papal documents, ancient scrolls, and ecclesiastical relics. Somewhere, adjacent to all of it, sits a massive CD wallet. Probably alphabetised. Possibly blessed.
