On Friday, Pope Leo XIV met with radical rocker Patti Smith in a meeting a Vatican official described as a ‘shared mission,’ even as Smith makes it clear publicly that she is not even Catholic.
Smith, who originally hails from Chicago like the pontiff, is a radical, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT punk rock star who made her mark in the 1970’s.
Among the lyrics she became famous for is the opening line from the song “Gloria” from her 1975 debut album Horses, which states, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.”
Smith has been a vocal supporter of abortion, something that the Vatican did not seem bothered by in their celebration of her private audience with Leo.
During a press conference in 2018, Smith made statements supporting legal access to abortion, framing it as a complex personal matter where protecting women’s lives takes priority over ideology and as a ‘healthcare’ issue.
She said at the time, “It is a personal matter, and each one has to do what seems right to them. I believe it is more important to save the lives of young women, or of any person who makes this type of decision, than to base the decision on any type of ideology.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, she described the decision as “terrible.”
Hellbound and Down 