My new issue of BBC Music arrived (what a wonderful magazine!) today, and I was surprised to read that their "News" section treats an issue alive in the Catholic Church today.
The headline: "Pope Pans Pop."
Pope Benedict XVI has called for an end to pop music in church. After attending a concert of sacred music by Palestrina and Domenico Bartolucci, former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, the Pope opined that it is 'possible to modernise holy music, but it should not happen outside the traditional path of Gregorian chants or sacred polyphonic choral music.'
This news item, appearing in such a significant venue as this, is a further measure of the extent to which that speech had an impact.
