Fr. Robert Mehlhart, OP, President of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, has begun offering singing lessons on social media, saying the initiative stems from a desire to help people join in song with Pope Leo XIV.
By Kielce Gussie
With over half a million videos on the first “Sing with the Pope” video, Fr. Robert Mehlhart, OP, says he is shocked at how people have responded to the series.
In an interview with Vatican News, the President of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music shares that it was a spur-of-the-moment idea.
After watching Pope Leo XIV burst into song during his first Regina Caeli greeting, he realized he had a chance to help people get more involved. “I saw the Pope addressing his people,” Fr. Mehlhart explains, “and most people could join him.”
But he noticed there were people who “would have liked to have joined him, but they weren’t really prepared.” He immediately thought about how the Dominicans could offer a helping hand. With that, the “Let’s Sing with the Pope” series was born.
Not as easy as it seems
Fr. Mehlhart confesses that singing in St. Peter’s Square during a liturgy is not as easy as it seems. It’s hard to follow along, because, he says, “you can’t really hear the others so well.”
What does help is if the person has a background in music or if they have had the chance to listen to the song beforehand to know “what the words are and how the melody goes.”
The Dominican priest agrees that singing is an integral part of Christian celebrations. Yet, no matter whether you are classically trained or if your only experience is singing karaoke, your musical skills should not keep you from participating in Christian liturgies.
“Christians sing; lovers sing, as St. Augustine reminds us, and Christians are lovers as they love God,” Fr. Mehlhart points out. So, when we burst out into music and song—whether in tune or not—we do so “in communion with humanity and with God.”
