While Pope Francis famously eschewed television, he enjoyed music and books as a way to keep himself entertained -- and more, to bring him closer to humanity.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pope Francis' favorite songs included classical compositions and Mass settings.
"I love Mozart, of course," Francis told Fr. Antonio Spadaro, editor in chief of La Civiltá Cattolica, back in 2013. "The 'Et incarnatus est' from his Mass in C minor is matchless; it lifts you to God!"
Pope Francis also loved Wagner and Beethoven, reported NPR.
He also had an extensive record and CD collection, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra in 2022.
"Although his archive consists of classical music, it also includes an old album with the greatest hits of Edith Piaf, Argentine tango melodies created by Astor Piazzolla and a collection of 25 discs with gospel songs by Elvis Presley," he said.
He also had a favorite record store in Rome, dating back to before his 2013 election to the papacy.
The Pope's favorite store, called Stereosound, is located by the Pantheon, reported NPR. While he was unable to visit the store very often after his election, Pope Francis did take a trip there in 2022 to bless the store after a renovation.
A literature teacher pope
Pope Francis also liked reading books, Aleteia previously reported.
Among his favorite books were Lord of the World, by Robert Hugh Benson, Late Have I Loved Thee, by Ethel Mannin, and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and The Brothers Karamazov.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first Jesuit Pope was also a fan of Ignatian spirituality.
Aside from The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Pope Francis enjoyed Memoriale, by St. Peter Faber.
Faber, a Jesuit saint whom Francis canonized in 2013, had a "dialogue with all, even the most remote and even with his opponents; his simple piety, a certain naiveté, perhaps; his being available straightaway; his careful interior discernment; the fact that he was a man capable of great and strong decisions but also capable of being so gentle and loving,” said Pope Francis.
Another favorite book was The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni.
“I have read The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni, three times, and I have it now on my table because I want to read it again. Manzoni gave me so much. When I was a child, my grandmother taught me by heart the beginning of The Betrothed: 'That branch of Lake Como that turns off to the south between two unbroken chains of mountains….’" he said.
In the 1980s, Pope Francis began, but did not finish, doctoral studies with a focus on Fr. Romano Guardini.
Guardini, he said, was “a thinker who has much to say to the people of our time.” According to the National Catholic Register, “while in Jesuit seminary, he owned The Lord, Father Guardini’s work on the Son of God."
NPR has made a papal playlist:
