Singer Lauryn Hill Blasts Church at Vatican Concert

Reuters ^ | Dec 14, 2003 | Philip Pullella

[jern]

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - American singer Lauryn Hill, from a stage used by the Pope, shocked Catholic officials at a concert by telling them to "repent" and alluding to sexual abuse of children by U.S. priests.

The broadside came during the recording Saturday night of a Christmas concert attended by top Vatican (news - web sites) cardinals, bishops and many elite of Italian society, witnesses said.

Hill made her comments when taking the microphone to sing at the concert, held in the same huge hall and stage Pope John Paul (news - web sites) uses for his weekly general audiences and other events. The Pope was not present.

"I did not come here to celebrate the birth of Christ with you but to ask you why you are not in mourning for his death inside this place," she said according to a transcript of her statement run by the Rome newspaper La Repubblica.

A spokesman for Prime Time Productions, the concert's organizers, said the newspaper's quotes were accurate.

"God has been a witness to the corruption of his leadership, of the exploitation and abuses ... by the clergy," she said.

This was an apparent reference to the scandal in the United States last year over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

Hill told the crowd to seek blessings "from God not men" and said she did "not believe in representatives of God on earth."

A few feet away in the front row sat five cardinals, including Edmund Szoka, American governor of Vatican City.

Hill, 28, did not sing the song listed on the program but instead sang a song about social injustice.

Organizers said Hill's outburst and performance would most probably be cut from the show when it is aired on Christmas Eve.

Hill shot to fame in the mid-1990s with band The Fugees, whose album "The Score" sold 17 million copies, to become one of the biggest hip-hop chart successes of all time.

She went on to win five Grammy awards for her debut solo album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." She has a son and daughter by Rohan Marley, the son of Reggae legend Bob Marley.

[BlackElk]

And whatever the Vatican may not know will not be reliably or accurately supplied by the impudent and impertinent likes of Ms. Hill.

[BlackElk]

Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Irving Berlin?????

[Uri’el-2012]

Yes, Yes, To the extent of his competence and ability and knowledge, Not particularly and he has many obligations other than pleasing the likes of you who are not in charge of judging him, Yes, Sounds likely to me, and You bet he is.

You are more of a bondservant to your own pride.

When RCs need your advice or YOPIOS we will be sure to ask. Don't hold your breath in the meantime. Now, back to the fever swamp....

68 posted on 12/14/2003 10:50:31 PM MST by BlackElk

You just exude the love of a Christian (/sarcasm)

a bondslave to the Christ

chuck

[onehipdad]

I hope that is the end result of Ms. Hill's outburst.

Never heard of her before today....I'm sure I'm not the only one..

[steplock]

I really haven't the slightest idea who she is - I was only opinionating on the comments she made.

[Pahuanui]

Lauren Hill has basically said in the past that she hates whites. She's just a racist b***h has-been.

Urban legend alert! http://www.snopes.com/quotes/lauryn.htm

[George W. Bush]

OK. I think I have read that St. Catherine of Siena had the power of levitation. If she had been alive and at the concert (why do I think she would have stayed away?), Lauryn Hill might have changed her mind while suspended in midair a few hundred feet over the Vatican. The image brings to mind the classic and powerful Jonathan Edwards sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Well, she might not have been quite that angry.

Catherine probably would have just scolded her in a private note.

[ClintonBeGone]

she had the gall to criticize the Vatican at an event that she was invited to by them, and she has had illegitimate children, plus probably has been involved in other immoral activity in her life.

When you point one finger, four point back at you. What about the Chuch folks who invited/hired this woman with b@stard children, giving her a mike and a stage?

[ClintonBeGone]

Rudeness is rudeness, and Hill's rant will draw sympathy for the Church, not for her views.

Seems to be a split decision here.

[Conservative til I die]

It's rude behavior. Even though I am not a fan of Democrats or Bill Clinton, if he had invited me out to accept an award from him at the White House, I would either go and politely accept the award, or if I couldn't stand him that much, I would decline his invitation, and politely state why.

It's rude behavior, regardless of how valid one's claims are, to accept an invitation, and then scream in a shrill manner (which accomplishes nothing BTW, unless you think the Church will now suddenly do whatever you think it needs to do because some pop singer yelled on-stage about it) about how my host sucks and is evil. Just plain rude behavior.

[Conservative til I die]

The Catholic Church is so much better after having excommunicated Archbishop LeFebvre.

LOL!!! I love when the followers of kooks, think they have anythig to say about anything.

It's almost like a Jehovah's Witness commenting on the nature of Christ.

[Conservative til I die]

Lauryn Hill is (at least last I checked) a Bible believing Christian. Before everyone starts attacking her and accusing her of everything from voodoo to being a slut, keep in mind that she is a believer,

And like about 40% of Protestants, she likely has an irrational dislike of Catholics because frankly, Protestantism wouldn't exist unless they were "protesting" Catholicism.

[Conservative til I die]

Is there a reason Baptists can't just talk about religion without sounding like it's a sales pitch? "Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart. Won't you let him in TODAY!" Maybe it's the Catholic in me, but I always believed in talking about God and Christ with reverence.

[Conservative til I die]

Disclaimer: The poster is a member of the traditionalist fringe.

[L.N. Smithee]

Since FatBoy and Skeletor let the Smoke of Satan into the Roman Church with V-2,

OK, help me out. Whom are you referring to? I am not a Catholic.

[mdmathis6]

Actually that quote(knock at the door) comes from Revelations...Christ himself is making the "Sales pitch"..."Behold...I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door...I will come to him and sup with him..and he with me!"

Don't blame me for the "sales pitch"....take your complaints up with the Heavenly management!

[TradicalRC]

I'm sorry, I do not understand why you posted this to me.

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

"I am not a Catholic."

My personal terms for John XXIII and Paul VI who, between the two of them, did more damage to the Roman Catholic Church than the Reformation and the Mongol invasions combined.

The usual name for the travesty that they perpetrated on the Church is Vatican II, being the Pastoral Council (literally) From Hell. I prefer to refer to it as V-2, the standard designation for Hitler's rocket-propelled bomb.

[St.Chuck]

Since FatBoy and Skeletor let the Smoke of Satan into the Roman Church with V-2....

LOL.....While I wouldn't agree with the spirit of your remark, I confess your colorful description is fairly amusing.