''Wake Up! Music Album with His Words and Prayers'' is a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

album by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

released on 27 November 2015 on Believe Digital. The album is formed of speeches by Pope Francis recorded in numerous locations worldwide between 2013 and 2015 with accompanying music tracks of prayers and hymns by various Italian artists and producers.

Production

Under the art direction of Don Giulio Neroni, who also curated other albums for Popes

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

and

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

, various Italian artists and producers contributed to the music, including Giorgio Kriegsch, Mite Balduzzi, Giuseppe Dati, Lorenzo Piscopo, the orchestral director Dino Doni, and Tony Pagliuca, former member of Italian

band Le Orme. The album was released through the

Believe Digital Believe SAS (also known as Believe Music; previously known as Believe Digital) is a global digital music company headquartered in France. Believe has several brands including TuneCore, Nuclear Blast, Naïve, Groove Attack, Play Two and AllPoints ...

label.

Composition

The album sets papal prayers and speeches to pop, rock, and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. The lyrics are varyingly Spanish, Portuguese or Italian, although the title track "Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!" is in English. While most of the music is described by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as "New Age neoclassicism" not unlike the work of

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

or Kitaro, "Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!" is identified as "the most rocking". The inclusion of rock music in ''Wake Up!'' stood in contrast to previous music albums which were released by popes

and

Reception

Tom Maxwell of Al Jazeera America states "Musically, the album is similar to but more animated than what one would hear during a yoga class or massage session" and that "What might be most noteworthy about ''Wake Up!'' is how groundbreaking it is. ... For such a figure s the popeto release an album of music at all is scarcely precedented, much less one that incorporates popular musical forms of the last few decades." Entertainment reporter Chi Chi Izundu on BBC '' Newsbeat'' expressed the opinion that some of the album "has the vibe of 80s rock", and another part is "hauntingly beautiful" and that the album is "all in all, a very pleasant listen". Helen Brown in ''The Telegraph'' calls it a "mellow, accessible album" and states "Proceeds go to help refugees at a time when displaced people are struggling to find room at the inn. Whatever your stance on the Catholic Church, or its leader, I suspect Pope Francis has made a good call here. At a time of increasingly inflamed religious emotions, the world could use a little Holy chill out."

Release

The first track released from the album was "Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!" on 26 September 2015.

Track listing

''Wake Up!'' includes the following tracks.

Charts

References

External links

Official Site
{{Authority control 2015 debut albums Contemporary Catholic liturgical music Pope Francis albums 2010s Spanish-language albums Latin-language albums 2010s Portuguese-language albums Progressive rock albums by Italian artists Progressive rock albums by Argentine artists Christian rock albums