Kanye West Meets With Pope Francis To Discuss Liturgy
Kanye West performing at Lollapalooza on April 3, 2011 in Chile.
Photo credit: rodrigoferrari
Kanye West met with Pope Francis on Tuesday, after he was spotted arriving at the Vatican, just days after the rapper was first seen following his hospitalization for exhaustion.
West was seen walking in wearing a $10,000 rosary around his neck, a clear sign that he’s been considering converting to Catholicism. He was accompanied by an entourage that included the Knights of Columbus.
Francis spoke to reporters, telling them that West was a “a man of God” and that he would make a great priest.
West did not go into details regarding whether he planned on performing at the next World Youth Day, but later tweeted saying that he talked to Francis about ways to stop the spiritual violence in his native city of Chicago.
“Though he’s not Catholic, finding ways to effect liturgical change has been heavy on Kanye’s mind of late,” a source close to West said. “His hope is that he will be able to keep the issue of calling traditionalist Catholics rigid fresh on the mind of Francis so that he doesn’t say anything dumb like that again. And this coming from a man who says more idiotic things in a single day than most people do in a lifetime. That’s saying a lot.
The meeting was another sign that the rapper, who declared a possible bid to the Papacy at the VMA’s last year, is open to working with the Pope.
West shocked fans last month when he ended a concert with a rant in which he proclaimed that had he voted in the last papal elections, he would have voted for Francis.
“I told y’all I didn’t vote, right?” West said. “That’s because I’m not a Catholic, and apparently you have to be a Catholic to be a cardinal, but if I was a cardinal, I would’ve voted for Francis.”
His support for Francis has been met with frustration in the SSPX community as ultra-traditionalist groups prepare for a pontifical battle amid fears that Francis could threaten the liturgical rights of orthodox Catholics.