"Pope Francis is a true rock star.” Who says? An actual rock star. Sting, formerly of the Police, attended a general audience recently and went on social media to report that Francis had “a genuine charisma that filled the room”.
So far, so glib, perhaps. But why was Sting at the Vatican in the first place? What is his relationship with Catholicism? This is where things get a little more meaningful.
Listening to Sting speak, one would struggle to catch any trace of a Geordie accent, but Gordon Sumner (his real name) was born on Tyneside in 1951, the son of a hairdresser and a milkman. He grew up near the shipyards. His songs are often laced with nautical themes and imagery.
