*Aretha Franklin rubbed elbows with and serenaded Pope Francis at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia, held on Saturday, September 26.
The Queen of Soul showered The Pope with love while singing her rendition of “Amazing Grace” in front of over 300,000 awe-struck spectators. Click to WATCH!
Aretha said in a press release:
“It was a true and so special honor to meet Pope Francis. We shook hands and I gave him a gift of 25 volumes of sermons by my father, Theologian Rev. C.L. Franklin. He asked me to pray for him as he did others during his time in America. I curtsied and His Holiness left the room for the Festival of Families event. His interpreter and secret service were there. Significant time had passed before I was introduced to sing. I had no idea he was sitting right behind me so that I could acknowledge him. Again, it was a true honor.”
This is the second time Franklin has performed for a pope. The first was for Pope John Paul II in 1987 in Detroit.
The Pope’s visit to America was definitely star-studded. He held evening Mass at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 25. Celebrities in attendance included Sting, Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Hudson, and Gloria Estefan. Jennifer sang her rendition of “Hallelujah” while Harry performed “How Great Thou Art”.
Meanwhile, across the grapevine…. Momma Dee is planning to sue the restaurant that accused her of dining and dashing.
The “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” star, real name Deborah Bryant, was in Wisconsin last month with friend and fellow reality star, Shay Johnson to celebrate Dee’s birthday. The women were dining at Elsa’s On the Park, an eatery in downtown Milwaukee with two male companions.
After dinner, the group got into a debate on who would pay for the meal. VLADTV reports that Shay and the men left, leaving Momma Dee to foot the bill, but when she refused to pay, she was arrested and held on $250 bail.
After her arrest, Dee denied skipping out on the check and the restaurant has since dropped the charges against her, but that’s not stopping the self-professed Queen from taking legal action. She took to Twitter recently to announce her intention to sue Elsa’s for defamation.
“The DA of Milwaukee has refused to press charges against me because he did not find any evidence of me doing any crime much love to my fans,” Momma Dee said.
During a Twitter conversation with a fan, Dee responded to one message with, “I’m going to sue the owner of that restaurant for defaming my name.”
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