As St. Augustine said, “He who sings prays twice.”In 2014, Pope Francis held a meeting with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The event was held in the Olympic Stadium in Rome with a crowd of 100,000 people. Before his speech on charismatics, Pope Francis led the crowd through one of his personal favorite hymns, “Vive Jesus el Senor” (Jesus the Lord Lives).
When word got out that “Vive Jesus el Senor” could get Papa Francisco dancing, other festivals started to work the song into their event planning. In 2016, during his visit to Mexico, the crowd got him singing the tune again.
Pope Francis is not the first pope to be swept up in song. Pope St. John Paul II led a large crowd through the “Pater Noster” during his 1979 visit to Chicago, something he did frequently.
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