Dolly Parton and Pope Francis never met, but one wonderfully unexpected gift brought their worlds together.
Pope Francis received an awful lot of gifts during his 12 years as pope. There were paintings and books, soccer jerseys, bottles of alcohol, bicycles, cars and, on at least one memorable occasion, a life-sized chocolate statue of himself.
But in December 2023, one particularly unexpected present arrived at the Vatican courtesy of Dolly Parton. It was a personally autographed vinyl box set of Rockstar, the album she'd released just weeks earlier. And on the front, Dolly had written a message for its rather unusual recipient:
“To Pope Francis — With love to you, Dolly Parton, 2023.”
The gift was delivered to Francis at the Vatican on December 13, just a few days before his 87th birthday, and photographs show him smiling as he looks down at Dolly's inscription.
Quite what the late pontiff made of the album isn't recorded. Rockstar was Dolly's first proper foray into rock music and included her versions of everything from "Let It Be" and "Stairway to Heaven" to "Purple Rain" and "Wrecking Ball." Sadly, we may never know whether Pope Francis ever settled down for an evening with Dolly's take on the Rolling Stones.
However, the little handwritten message she sent him feels particularly Dolly. After all, her Christian faith was never something she kept hidden, as reported by America Magazine and in many other places. And in fact, earlier that same year, she had explained just how much it shaped the way she lived and worked.
“My faith impacts everything that I do because I do believe that, through God, all things are possible,” she shared, adding that she prayed for the people she worked with and asked God to guide the choices she made.
And then she summed up her approach in a way that seems especially appropriate when we look back on her life, and when we see that album she sent to Rome: “I try to just live through love as much as I can.”
There is no record of Dolly and Pope Francis ever meeting -- on earth, anyway! -- but it feels almost apt that their paths crossed in this small way before they died. One was a country singer from the Tennessee mountains whose faith followed her onto some of the biggest stages in the world; the other spent his papacy encouraging Christians to take their gifts beyond the walls of the Church. And for a brief moment, that connection involved Pope Francis holding a Dolly Parton rock album in the Vatican.
Now somewhere in the halls of the Apostolic Palace, there may still be a copy of Rockstar, with Dolly's unmistakable handwriting across the front. And while we'll never know if Pope Francis ever actually listened to her rendition of "Wrecking Ball," we do know that when Dolly wrote “with love to you,” she meant it.
