Remember that Onion article during the 1996 election, "Bob Dole Pledges to Build Trench to 19th Century" parodying Bill Clinton's (real) campaign slogan of a "bridge to the 21st century"? The pope likewise continues the farcical battles of the past. Rock music is bad!!!! "'Rock' . . is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship." Also, new art music is bad!! "Modern so-called 'classical' music has maneuvered itself, with some exceptions, into an elitist ghetto, which only specialists may enter -- and even they do so with what may sometimes be mixed feelings." My so-called music is 2 1337 4 u, 14m3r! He doesn't mention jazz, but I'm sure that it leads to promiscuity and racial otherness.
The article I'm quoting actually has a kind of an interesting history of liturgical music, although I question some of its assertions and some of the "problems" it poses are not at all new. For example: how to keep a "Christian" music while expanding the church beyond Europe. Can unwestern music be holy? They've had solutions to this "problem" since Spain and Portugal colonized the Americas. Perhaps the Church could look to how Christian music (godly) was mixed with native music (ungoldy . . . oh sure, he doesn't say it, but if it weren't ungoldy, why would this even be an issue?) then and know how to do it now.
The new pope: fighting the battles of yesteryear!
Apparently, he's a good pianist. Of course, he only plays german composers from the eras of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. I just made that up.
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