Punk priestess Patti Smith to serenade Pope Francis

Conservative Catholics are up in arms about it, as are post-religious hipsters. What on earth was Pope Francis, 77, thinking when he invited punk heroine Patti Smith to serenade him at the Vatican's Dec. 13 Christmas concert?
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"I like Pope Francis and I'm happy to sing for him," she told a reporter for Brit paper the Guardian Tuesday at a confab at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. "Anyone who would confine me to a line from 20 years ago is a fool."

Smith, who is not a Catholic, recently told U.K. paper the Independent that she thinks the Bible is a great work. "It has everything - creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice," she said. "It doesn't really matter what religion you are . . . those stories are still relevant to what people go through in their lives."

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“I had a strong religious upbringing and the first word on my first LP is Jesus,” Smith explained. “I did a lot of thinking. I’m not against Jesus, but I was 20 and I wanted to make my own mistakes. And I didn’t want anyone dying for me. I stand behind that 20 year old girl, but I have evolved. I’ll sing to my enemy! I don’t like being pinned down and I’ll say what the f--k I want - especially at my age.” (Smith is now 67).

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