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Pope Francis is dropping a prog rock album. Yes, really

Pope Francis is dropping a prog rock album. Yes, really

News straight outta The Vatican: Pope Francis is releasing a prog rock album.

The first pontiff from the Southern Hemisphere and universally acknowledged good guy is currently on a tour of the US, where he has met with President Obama and Congress as well as members of the Catholic Church during a tour of several different cities.

Hashtags like #DopePope, #CatholicSwag and #RockstarPope have been trending on social media as the US collectively fanboys and fangirls all over the Argentinian visitor:

But just when Pope Francis appeared to be at the top of his game, The Vatican has announced that he's set on chart domination too.

Rolling Stone announced the pontiff is releasing a popular music album on Friday, and premiered the title song 'Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!' from the 11-track LP, which you can listen to here.

The magazine describes the Pope's sound as:

...atmospheric synths, trumpeting horns and skyscraping electric guitars reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Produced by prog-rocker Tony Pagliuca, who topped the UK and Italian charts in the 1970s, the album features excerpts of his most famous and moving speeches paired with musical accompaniment ranging from "pop-rock to Gregorian chant."

Wake Up is available to pre-order on iTunes now, and will be released just in time for Christmas.

It isn't even the first time a pontiff has made a musical cross-over.

In 2009, Benedict XVI released a Christmas album that featured his vocals on litanies and chants as well as recordings of prayers and Bible readings.

More: Kim Kardashian's 'Pope is dope' tweet caused a minor diplomatic incident with Argentina

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