You heard about the scandals of pedophily in several western countries. In Irland. In Italy. In the USA. Bad times for Joseph Ratzinger. Even in the Regensburg diocese in Germany, the diocese where he comes from. Four priests and two nuns in the Regensburg diocese are under investigation for sexual abuse allegations. In the whole Roman Catholic Church in Germany, some 300 former students have come forward with claims of physical or sexual abuse. Georg Ratzinger, pope’s brother, is directly involved in the scandal. Those who attack the pope say that back in the days he protected the authors of crimes rather than the victims. Those who defend him claim that he wants to clean up the mess, and make visible things that was hidden in the past. 

 Thus, these scandals have come at the very moment when the pope decided make its image evolve. A few weeks before the storm, Vatican was efforcing to change its image. Its newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano* published a list of the 10 best rock albums of all times. I guess it's not what the pope is used to listening whan he gets up, but it's what's Vatican recommand to listen though. 40 years ago yhis list would be read seriously by many people, today it's become more anecdotic. Sign of the times.

 1. "Revolver" - The Beatles Of course! The band that was more famous than Jesus Christ!
2. "If I could only remember my name" - David Crosby David Who?
3. "The Dark Side Of The Moon" - Pink Floyd Bunch of drug-addict-megalomaniacs
4. "Rumours" - Fleetwood Mac  I don't know him
5. "The Nightfly" - Donald Fagen Nope, don't know him either
6. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson  Groovy
7. "Graceland" - Paul Simon ?
8. "Achtung baby" - U2 Why this one?
9. "Morning Glory" - Oasis! What are they doing here?
10. "Supernatural" - Carlos Santana Perhaps The worst he ever recorded...

There is no trace of Megadeth or Judas Priest in this top ten, but this list is very surprising. I still don't understand how Pope Benedikt XVI  picked it. Does he really listen to rock music? :)

Or did he ask a close circle of trustful cardinals for this list?

 I don't know all the bands. But I can pick a few funny things about this list.

THRILLER is the ultimate hit of the pop history with more than 30 millions copies sold.

So it wasn't risky to choose this pop masterpiece, but also smart - after all they could have chosen MADONNA. But I know that the single "BILLIE JEAN" is a story of a guy who wants to throw a girl away because he made her pregnant and doesn't want to take care of the child. Not to mention that the THRILLER with its bunch of killer zombies is not an example of Christian purity.

And what about MORNING GLORY? In a recent post I mentioned that this expression, that refers to a flower that blooms in the morning, means also - in English slang - the phenomenon of morning erection.

Anyway, this top ten is kind of strange. Why SUPERNATURAL from SANTANA? Because of the hit "MARIA MARIA"? Perhaps, but SANTANA was not the musician he used to be any more. 40 years ago, in 1968, when the Catholic church made its own revolution called "Vatican II council", CARLOS was really on the top. A superstar about to make a breakthrough at Woodstock. This era was the best, no doubt.

And where is JOHNNY CASH? In JOHNNY CASH’s songs it's about love, crime, redemption, and religion. He should have a little place in this paradise...

You should say everybody could make his own top ten of the best albums of all time after all, but there must be a message when it comes from the Vatican.

And I hardly can find it. Do you ?

* L'Osservatore Romano is the Vatican’s voice, the daily newspaper spreads the word of the head of the Catholic State since 1861 and the loss of most of its territories while Italian kingdoms united in one country. Nowadays, L'Osservatore Romano sells less than 1.000 newspapers per day. Its influence got down all along XXth century. In 2007, the secretary of the State of Vatican decided to change the editorial line, and to edit some of the columns on the web.