The devout Catholic musician explained that "life, even if it lasts 100 years, is so insignificant when you compare it to eternity".

"If life didn't exist…an eternal life, life after life, then everything would lose all meaning," he said during a recent interview with Colm Flynn for EWTN News In Depth.

"My faith comes from an extremely simple reasoning: I do not believe in the clock without the clockmaker.

"I don't think anything can be achieved without someone who has designed and built it. Therefore, I have faith, I have a lot of faith in the one who made the world."

Bocelli explained his belief that "whoever puts his life in the hands of God, the one who created it, who wants him, desires and loves him, puts their life in good hands".

Speaking about how his faith has helped him get through his life and career, Bocelli said he believes it is "absolutely true that to whom much is given much is asked".

"I cannot imagine what will be asked of me when I find myself face to face with the one who made the world, because so much has been given to me," he said.

"I have been given a unified family that has supported me and loved me. I am loved by friends that I have close to me, loved by my wife, my children and loved by the fans.

"I've had a life of rich possibilities, of experiences, so much received and so there is so much I should try to give." Continue reading

Source

• Catholic Universe

The singer announced Wednesday that he will launch on Nov. 13 "Believe," an album based on the theological virtues.

"The concept behind ‘Believe' is based on three words: faith, hope and charity," Bocelli said in a release. Read more

Old favourites like The Lord's My Shepherd and Abide With Me are being relegated as mourners choose Ed Sheeran's Supermarket Flowers or Frank Sinatra's My Way.

At least that's the case according to the UK's biggest chain of funeral directors. They say for the first time since 2002 when they began their two-yearly statistics collection, not one traditional hymn made it into the top ten.

Data from Co-op Funeralcare, whose funeral directors arrange up to 100,000 ceremonies a year, show that, rather than traditionally sombre funerals, more personalised send-offs are favoured.

Supermarket Flowers, which is Sheeran's tribute to his late grandmother written from the perspective of his mother, is the sixth-most popular choice.

Westlife's You Raise Me sneaks in at No. 8.

Apart from in 2014, when Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life from the Monty Python film Life of Brian was the most popular, My Way has consistently held the No. 1 slot.

For those who prefer a send-off with classical-music, Edward Elgar's Nimrod is the most popular although it isn't among the top 10.

Co-op Funeralcare's latest research shows about a quarter (24%) of UK adults (in a survey of 2,000) say they have already made clear which music they would like at their funeral, compared with just a fifth (19%) in 2016.

One in four wanted music played at their funeral to make people laugh. Popular rock songs chosen included Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven and Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell, while Angels by Robbie Williams is the most requested pop tune.

Although hymns are traditionally associated with religious funerals, they are also chosen for humanist and secular funerals, Co-op Funeralcare says.

"What people want more than anything at a funeral is a combination of the personal and the familiar," said a member of a Church of England focus group working on funerals.

"Contemporary lyrics, classical music and songs that have been the soundtrack of our lives are all valuable in helping people remember and grieve.

"For a family to be able to choose particular songs for a funeral led by a church minister - whether the music is expressly religious or not - is an important part of any service."

Annual statistics released last year by the Church of England showed a decline in the number of people turning to the church for key life events, with 133,000 funerals compared with 139,000 in the previous year.

The top ten songs are:

1. My Way - Frank Sinatra

2. Time to Say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman

3. Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy

4. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler

5. Angels - Robbie Williams

6. Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran

7. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

8. You Raise Me Up - Westlife

9. We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn

10. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Eric Idle

Source

• The Guardian
• The Telegraph
• Image: Digital Music News

However, that was not always the case, as he mentioned in a recent interview with Fr Davide Banzato on an Italian television program.

"When I was young, being an agnostic seemed like a comfortable position for me to embrace," he said.

Before discovering his faith, he did what many people do, especially when they meet with success in the entertainment industry, as he did: he lived a somewhat dissolute life, and indulged in excesses in order to fill what he calls the "missing part of myself."

Despite his success, "there was still unrest. Every evening, you have to reach your goals. When you don't, you feel bad. Success makes everything easier, but in the end, you find yourself with your hands empty, and you feel like you are sinking into a whirlpool of vice."

That is when, as he said in an earlier interview with the Australian magazine The Catholic Leader, "some existential questions became urgent. I realized that making any choice, we stand at a fork in the road - one path is leading towards the good, the second in the direction of evil … I chose the path that seemed more logical, which my intelligence, though limited, identified as a path without alternative" — the path of faith.

For him, the key to his conversion was realizing that his life is being guided by a higher plan, and that the universe is not purely the result of randomness and chance.

"When you ask yourself about the meaning of life, and you search for answers, you discover so many things! And I think I discovered that chance does not exist," he told Banzato.

"I believe this to be true because I perceive it. I don't have tangible proof that this is the case, but there are thousands, thousands of facts, big and small, that convince me of this: what has happened to me, and continues to happen every day, is the fruit of design." Continue reading

• Image: Facebook

Negotiations are ongoing to secure the singer, who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide.

If he does sign up for the concert, Bocelli will sing at the Festival of Families event at Croke Park, Ireland's largest sports stadium.

The concert-type event is a celebration of family life around the world.

Besides featuring music and dance performances, the concert will feature five families from around the world who will talk about their faith.

Popular artists Ed Sheeran, The Script and Finbar Fury were all listed by the WMOF organisers as possible acts for the Festival of Families.

However, both Sheeran and The Script have been ruled out.

A WMOF spokeswoman said "We want people to leave uplifted by the music and the presence of the Pope and the prayerful atmosphere."

Bocelli has performed for Pope Francis many times.

He most recently sang at the Vatican last August with a group of Haitian children. The Andrea Bocelli Foundation is helping the children with educational opportunities.

After the performance, Francis told him he has "something inside with the power to move others, I don't know if you know it."

Bocelli is a practising Catholic and an outspoken pro-life advocate.

Source

• Aleteia
• Irish Mirror
• Irish Independent
• Image: Philly Voice