Juanes performs at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 19, 2015 in New York City.
Gary Gershoff/WireImage
As Pope Francisco (or Francis, as he’s referred to in the U.S.), embarks on his U.S. visit, we wanted to welcome him with a list of songs we think he’d enjoy on his personal playlist.
We hear from reputable sources that Pope Francis is a big music fan, and considering he’s Argentine, we’ll buy that. So, in the spirit of good music and good will, here’s our Pope Francis playlist, in no particular order.
- Diego Torres, “Color Esperanza”: A hymn of hope penned during Argentina’s worst financial crisis became a huge Latin hit.
- Juanes, “A Dios le Pido”: Of course it has to make this list (plus Juanes is performing for the Pope in Philadelphia). Hope and dance together? We love it.
- Arthur Hanlon, “Que te Vaya Bien”: Written for immigrants and travelers, this beautiful instrumental perfectly fits the Pope’s message.
- Natalia Jiménez, “Creo en mi”: An ode to self-belief and positivity.
- Luis Fonsi, “No me doy por vencido”: And another one!
- Maná, “Vivir sin aire”: Who knew the Pope was going to be into the environment? Here’s Maná’s take.
- Carlos Vives, “Volví a nacer”: Yes, he wrote it to his wife, but it’s a metaphor for so many things.
- Astor Piazzolla, “Adios Nonino”: Simply because it’s beautiful (Piazzolla wrote it for his dad after his death) and from a fellow Argentine.
- Laura Pausini, “Bienvenido”: An uplifting song about having arms wide open.
- Juan Luis Guerra, “Ojalá que llueva café”: This isn’t one of Guerra’s Christian songs, but it’s so lovely and celebratory we had to have it!