Sinead O'Connor reacts to Papal announcement
Sinead O'Connor is among the millions – both Catholic and not – reflecting on Pope Benedict's statement this morning.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 11 Feb 2013
Sinéad O’Connor has welcomed the news that The Pope will be stepping down on February 28 – the first time a pontiff has resigned in nearly 600 years.
“I would like to congratulate Pope Benedict on his wise decision to retire before the very worst of what has been going on is discovered,” O’Connor says suggesting something more sinister than the “advanced age” cited in today’s official announcement.
“I appreciate his alluding to some of it in his statement and assure him The Most High forgives those who can faithfully say they did wrong. “The church had been brought into dreadful disrepute by lies and blasphemies against The Holy Spirit,” she continues. “Benedict’s greatest achievement is this act of retiring. There is a chance now for the church to be re-built and made fit to house The Holy Spirit.”
When Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005 he became one of the oldest new popes in history. Critics – including our own Enda Kenny – have accused him of failing to properly address the issue of clerical child sex abuse.
In other celebrity reactions, comedian Frankie Boyle opines, “The Pope must have done something even the Church finds unacceptable. I'm guessing he's shagged an adult woman”; Lisa Hannigan quips, “The next series of Pope Idol is only a few weeks away... Make them all sing 'I Dreamed A Dream'!”; Pierce Morgan proffers, “The Queen's a year older than The Pope. Can't see her ever resigning because she's tired”; recent Hot Press interviewee Jack Whitehall wonders, “Will the papacy now be foisted upon a younger pope with a stutter and a fear of public speaking?”; Simon Pegg weighs in with, “I bet he gets one really dangerous assignment, just before he retires, like a civil war or an exorcism” and Mia Farrow adds a touch more sensibly, “Hoping for a more progressive successor – imagine a Pope more like Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”
The Hot Press Newsdesk
Latest Related Articles For This Artist
Sinéad O’Connor has reunited with her husband, Barry Herridge, who she broke up with in December 2011 after just 16 days of married life.
News: 19 Feb 2014
The singer bemoans "idiots" complaining about her cancelled shows.
News: 02 Jan 2014
Sinéad O’Connor is one of the high-profile artists ready to leap into studio action if a proposed Blind Willie Johnson tribute album raises the required $125,000 Kickstarter funds by November 16.
News: 17 Oct 2013
Sinéad O’Connor’s online war of words with Miley Cyrus continues to simmer away. Appearing last Friday on the Late Late Show, O’Connor said she wanted an end to the highly publicised spat and the spotlight to be shone instead on the overly-controlling nature of the mainstream music industry.
News: 08 Oct 2013
Filmmaker and author Jonny Benjamin, who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his early 20s, has joined the Sinéad O’Connor/Miley Cyrus debate.
04 Oct 2013 - News
The “lettergate” war of words between Miley Cyrus and Sinéad O’Connor has intensified.
04 Oct 2013 - News
Miley Cyrus’ supposed admiration for Sinéad O’Connor has taken something of a dark turn.
03 Oct 2013 - News
Sinéad O'Connor has issued an open letter to Miley Cyrus after the younger singer revealed in her Rolling Stone cover story that she's a fan.
03 Oct 2013 - News
Twenty years ago, on October 3 1992, Sinead O’Connor ripped up a picture of the Pope on the iconic US television show Saturday Night Live. It was a moment that would change her career – and her life.
03 Oct 2012 - Interview
The singer opens up to Hot Press about the infamous 1992 SNL appearance which saw her rip up a picture of Pope John Paul II...
20 Sep 2012 - News
In a new interview in Hot Press, Sinéad O’Connor has revealed completely new facts about the most notorious incident in her career...
20 Sep 2012 - News
Singer announces cancellation on Twitter
22 Aug 2012 - News
Sinead O'Connor will be a surprise guest at Marlay Park, on August 25th.
11 Aug 2012 - News
The singer spoke exclusively to Hot Press...
30 Jul 2012 - News
Singer has reversed her decision to retire...
11 May 2012 - News
Sinead O'Connor has moved to set the record straight in relation to her split with manager Fachtna O Ceallaigh, who she says was her manager "until two weeks ago."
07 May 2012 - News
The singer also appears to have announced her retirement from music.
23 Apr 2012 - News
There will be performances from the likes of Sinead O'Connor and An Emotional Fish.
11 Apr 2012 - News
With the unpleasant tabloid scrutiny she’s been under recently, it’s easy to forget that Sinéad O’Connor is one of Ireland’s most powerful creative musical forces. Her soon-to-be-released new album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You?), already has critics purring with delight. When Sinéad travelled to the City of Angels to perform at a pre-Golden Globe event, Olaf Tyaransen went with her to report on the latest chapter in her remarkable life.
08 Feb 2012 - Interview
Headed up by Sinead O'Connor, 75 newly covered Dylan songs salute Amnesty.
01 Feb 2012 - News
In an evening of delicious treats, it is especially lovely to be introduced to Roisin, Sinéad’s beautiful daughter, who sings angelic backing vocals.
16 Jan 2012 - REVIEW
For too long, Ireland has been pushed around by the international vested interests represented by the EU, the ECB and the IMF. With the dawn of a new year, it is time for us to start fighting back...
12 Jan 2012 - Message
Controversial singer meets controversial writer - explosive results guaranteed...
03 Jan 2012 - News
The statement is carried on her website. Here it is in full.
27 Dec 2011 - News
A newly married Sinead O'Connor celebrates in style on the Olympia stage.
21 Dec 2011 - REVIEW
It was all about the music at this triumphant gig at the famous Dublin venue
19 Dec 2011 - Gallery
The newlywed has inked a new record deal....
12 Dec 2011 - News
She announced this morning that the big day is tomorrow.
07 Dec 2011 - News
With a date at the Olympia Theatre looming in December, and a much anticipated album on the way in the new year, these are crucial times for Sinéad O’Connor. In a remarkable interview, she also discusses her search for a man, the lovers she has known, sex, sex – and more sex. Plus: Ireland of the squinting windows and the Catholic Church...
05 Dec 2011 - Interview
Eleanor McEvoy and Gavin Friday get the thumbs up in the new issue of Hot Press.
01 Dec 2011 - News
It'll be a full band performance in the Olympia on December 18.
25 Oct 2011 - News
The follow-up to Theology will surface next year.
04 Jul 2011 - News
Sinead O’Connor has called on the Pope to stand down, and the Irish Government to expel the Papal Nuncio.
08 Dec 2009 - News
Mary J. Blige and Santigold are also supporting the project.
11 Nov 2009 - News
Jack L and Mary Coughlan are also appearing in Vince Power's supper club.
11 Feb 2009 - News
Sinéad O’Connor fans will want to invest in Theology: Live At The Sugar Club, a limited-edition deluxe CD/DVD, which is available exclusively from sineadoconnor.com.
31 Oct 2008 - News
Sinead O’Connor has collaborated with former Hot Press scribe John Waters on a charity song that will be released in March.
15 Feb 2008 - News
Having had a whale of a time readying it for the Meteors, Sinéad O’Connor and Republic Of Loose have decided to release their cover of Curtis Mayfield’s ‘We People Who Are Darker Than Blue’.
06 Feb 2008 - News
Sinead’s voice and the band, honed from months on the road, are at the absolute peak of their powers. Lots of fans I spoke to afterwards felt they’d never heard her sound better.
30 Nov 2007 - REVIEW
Sinéad O’Connor was back in the American media spotlight last week when she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
11 Oct 2007 - News
The optimistic title of this track almost sets itself up for failure, but in this case ‘Something Beautiful’ is a fitting tribute. This is vintage Sinéad, her distinctive voice still soaring although it sounds more world-weary than before. ‘Something Beautiful’ has a sacred air and the lyrics are laced with religious imagery (befitting of an album named Theology) but it is not so overtly religious that it suffocates the magic.
08 Aug 2007 - REVIEW
Sinéad O’Connor drums up trade for her Theology album with a November 18 soiree at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
06 Jul 2007 - News
Shane MacGowan interviews Sinead O’Connor for hotpress, with Olaf Tyaransen acting as referee. On the day, Victoria Clark also sat in. What followed turned into a wide-ranging and often hilarious exchange of almost Beckettian dimensions.
28 Jun 2007 - Interview
With Theology, Sinéad re-invigorates the ancient genre of the hymn in her own inimitable way, and brings it back to a contemporary public.
21 Jun 2007 - REVIEW
Sinead O'Connor is to play a special concert in Limerick
23 May 2007 - News
Sinéad O’Connor's voice is still capable of enchanting you with its fragility and blowing you away with its power, but maybe we all expected that, because at first it’s the bravely mixed set-list that grabs your attention.
21 May 2007 - REVIEW
From her forthcoming Theology album, this version of the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber classic from the Jesus Christ Superstar rock opera almost seems tailor-made for the controversial chanteuse. Originally sung in the musical/movie by Mary Magdalene (expressing her confused feelings for Jesus just before the crucifixion) it was seen as blasphemous in some quarters in its day and even now the lyrics would raise an eyebrow or two. Of course Sinéad sings it beautifully with no little passion while stylistically and sonically it’s the nearest thing she’s done to ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ in ages and could well prove a winner.
15 May 2007 - REVIEW
Sinéad O'Connor's already gained one celeb fan of her new cover single - legendary composer Tim Rice.
26 Apr 2007 - News
Sinead O'Connor has announced the tracklisting and release date of her new album Theology.
02 Apr 2007 - News
Sinead O'Connor makes her return to the live foray in style - she's set to headline a day of the Heineken Green Energy Festival.
21 Mar 2007 - News
Sinead O’Connor will be releasing two newly recorded songs as a special audio Christmas card on December 15.
07 Dec 2006 - News
The prospect of an intimate evening with Sinead O’Connor, at which she would unveil songs from her new album, was an intrigung one.
09 Nov 2006 - REVIEW
After her critically acclaimed reggae album Throw Down Your Arms, the first lady of Irish music is back with a collaboration and her own newie.
17 Aug 2006 - News
Sinead O'Connor isn't exactly one to take things lying down, and some US websites are about to find this out for themselves. In an exclusive chat with Hot Press she puts the story straight and talks about her next album. Only here folks!
26 May 2006 - News
The acts for this year's festival plan to attract audiences from all over Ireland.
28 Mar 2006 - News
Having covered two of his songs on her Throw Down Your Arms album, Sinéad O’Connor duets with Lee “Scratch” Perry on the American version of his Panic In Babylon set.
16 Feb 2006 - News
Who’d have bet money on Sinéad O’Connor making such an acclaimed return to music with any album, let alone one made up of old reggae tunes? Still, that’s about the size of it and Untold Stories is one of that particular record’s stand out moments and ironically one of its least dub influenced. Instead, O’Connor focuses on the folk element of Jamaican music to stirring effect and ends up sounding more resonant than we might have reasonably expected. Mighty stuff.
25 Jan 2006 - REVIEW
Tonight, from Bob Marley’s ‘War’ to Burning Spear’s ‘Jah Nuh Dead’, Sinéad O’Connor and her sidekicks deliver in spades. On a musical level, the reggae-fuelled set is funky, moving and, above all, inspiring.
22 Nov 2005 - REVIEW
Always a spiritual performer, in her new role as preacher of all things Rasta, Sinéad seems to the manor born. The lesson here is that less is more.
18 Nov 2005 - REVIEW
Sinéad O’Connor is among the guests on Friday October 21 as Later With Jools Holland returns to BBC 2 for what is remarkably its 26th series.
12 Oct 2005 - News
With characteristic unpredictability, Sinéad has re-emerged after a period in retirement with a Rasta album, in which she covers a collection of her own personal reggae classics.
30 Sep 2005 - REVIEW
Proffering a delicious taste of her forthcoming album, Throw Down Your Arms, due for release this autumn, Sinead O’Connor thrilled punters at the Prime Minister’s 2005 Independence Gala in Jamaica with her impassioned version of Bob Marley’s ‘War’, accompanied on drum and bass by famous riddim twins, Sly and Robbie.
26 Aug 2005 - REVIEW
As predicted in the last issue of Hotpress, Sinéad O’Connor is touring in support of her new reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
17 Aug 2005 - News
Sinéad O’Connor has confirmed details of her eagerly awaited reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
10 Aug 2005 - News
Sinéad O’Connor has confirmed details of her eagerly awaited reggae covers album, Throw Down Your Arms.
04 Aug 2005 - News
Bob Geldof says: “Yes”
30 Jun 2005 - News
Curator Patti Smith has invited a host of top artists to this year's Meltdown festival
29 Apr 2005 - News
Having recently announced her return to music, Sinead O'Connor will be performing at the New York awards ceremony next week
19 Apr 2005 - News
Sinead O'Connor has announced details of a new collection of collaborative work
30 Mar 2005 - News
Jim Fitzpatrick's nude painting of Sinead O'Connor has sold at auction for €15,000
23 Feb 2005 - News
It's almost two years since Sinead O'Connor announced her retirement from music. However, it was always on the cards that she would find her voice again. The good news is that she has. She explains all in an exclusive interview with Niall Stokes...
10 Feb 2005 - News
"Sinéad was pretty relaxed. She didn’t tap into the ‘making a record for the label’ thing. She made music for her own reasons, which were deeper than that. That’s why the songs ring so true..."
18 Nov 2004 - Interview
Sick of being the "the whipping post of Ireland's media", Sinead O'Connor has expressed her own sentiments in a recent newspaper advertisement
28 Sep 2004 - News
A worthy buy, indeed, if only for the odd-ball reggae version on the B side.
05 Nov 2003 - REVIEW
You've bought her new album, now you can purchase the new DVD - The Value Of Ignorance/The Year Of The Horse is now available in stores
21 Oct 2003 - News
This is a fitting memorial to Sinéad’s relentless struggle to transcend the mundane, the vacuous and the predictable. As a farewell album it’ll do fine until the next one.
06 Oct 2003 - REVIEW
The High Priestess of Irish music announces details of a double CD and DVD release prior to her retirement from the music industry
16 Jul 2003 - News
More on why Sinead O'Connor's quitting the music biz, plus her guest appearance with Damien Dempsey
16 May 2003 - News
Other Voices: Songs From A Room director Philip King reacts to news of Sinead O'Connor's retirement from public life - and praises "one of the world's very best singers"
25 Apr 2003 - News
In one of the most dramatic developments in Irish music in decades, Sinead O'Connor has said that she will retire from the music business in three months time
24 Apr 2003 - News
Sinead O'Connor and Damien Dempsey re-live the fairytale on Irish all-star Christmas album It's All Bells
27 Nov 2002 - News
Get set for a v. special V Graham Norton tonight - featuring no less than Sinead O'Connor
30 Oct 2002 - News
Following the runaway success of her nationwide tour, Sinead O'Connor announces a Point Theatre date in January
25 Oct 2002 - News
The most important female Irish artist of the last decade-and-a-half shuffles self-consciously onto the stage to a truly warm Mayo welcome. She looks healthy, rested and fighting fit.
24 Oct 2002 - REVIEW
Sean-Nós Nua, we are told, is the album that she has wanted to make for years
10 Oct 2002 - REVIEW
The making of Sean Nos Nua has been captured on film by Bringing It All Back Home Director, Philip King.
08 Oct 2002 - News
Details released about Sinead O'Connor's upcoming Donal Lunny-produced trad album, Sean-nos Nua
21 Aug 2002 - News
The legendary Sinead O'Connor announces first Irish tour in years
15 Aug 2002 - News
One of Ireland's most revered singers looks back at a turbulent decade during which she was never far from the headlines [pic Myles Claffey]
26 Jun 2002 - Interview
STEVE FARGNOLI, the artist manager who numbered SINÉAD O'CONNOR among his clients, lost his battle with cancer earlier this month. STEPHEN ROBINSON reports
27 Sep 2001 - News
Sinéad O’Connor has recorded four tracks with Massive Attack
13 Sep 2001 - News
It s been four years since the last Siniad O Connor album. By any standards, even for a major artist, that s a long time, inevitably heightening speculation about where Siniad s muse was likely to take her.
08 Jun 2000 - REVIEW
Sinead O’Connor: “You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart” (Island)
09 Feb 1994 - REVIEW
Sinéad O'Connor's records don't necessarily reveal themselves speedily. I know that, on the first hearing, 'The Lion and the Cobra' seemed to me an ill-fitting match of various discordant styles. I didn't really crack it 'till its sixth time round my turntable.
25 Mar 1990 - REVIEW
At the tender age of seventeen, Dubliner Sinéad O'Connor packed up Ton Ton Macoute, packed her bags and headed for London. Two years on she's had a few close shaves, recorded with the Edge and is on the verge of seriously launching her career with an album in January. Interview: Molly McAnailly Burke.
20 Nov 1986 - Interview
hotpress.com
Blogs on hotpress.com
Additional Sites on hotpress.com
- The Music Show
- The Jagermeister Freezer Sessions
- Hot Press Rock Photo
- The Philip Lynott Exhibition
- The INEC Homegrown Sessions
- HTC TakeOne!
- Genre Free Compilation
- MIX 13: Music Industry Xplained
- Shoot To Thrill: Make a Hot Press Cinema Ad
- Other Voices
- Best of Ireland
- The Big Break
- Hot for 2013
- Josh Ritter
- Eoin Glackin
- Bitter Rocc
- Hot Press Video Archive
- The Write Touch
Contact Us
Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500
Email:info@hotpress.ie
Click here for more contact information.
Click here to find out more about Hot Press
Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.
Advertise With Us
For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540
©Hot Press 2012. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About Us Jobs @ Hot Press