Ennio Morricone receives the Gold Medal of Pope Francis’ Pontificate as a tribute to his career

On Monday, April 15, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, presented the Gold Medal of Pope Francis’ Pontificate to the nonagenarian composer Ennio Morricone, at a ceremony held in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in Rome (Italy), which included a performance of the ‘St. John Passion’ by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Ennio Morricone

 

Pope Francis gave Morricone this award because of his “extraordinary artistic work in the sphere of music, universal language of peace, solidarity, and spirituality”.

 

Due to the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Jesuits, Ennio Morricone composed a Mass in honor of Pope Francis entitled ‘Missa Papae Francisci’, which debuted in Rome in June 2015, and that you can find below: