A CD of songs, prayers and music featuring Pope
Benedict XVI will hit stores just in time for Christmas, the Vatican reported
in late July. Released on the Geffen UK label, the album features a track in
which the pope sings a Marian prayer and another in which he recites litanies
in Italian, Portuguese, French and German. Entitled Alma Mater, the CD will be
released on November 30, with a portion of profits going to children’s
charities. Pope Benedict’s songs and prayers were taken from the archives of
Vatican Radio and mixed to modern classical music; thus the pontiff had no
direct relationship with the record label, a Vatican spokesperson reported.
