John, Paul, George, Ringo — and John Paul II

Coming to a music store near you: Santo Subito!, the first ever papal music DVD. Featuring the late John Paul II, it is to be launched in Britain by Universal — better known for Amy Winehouse and the Sugababes — on 19 November. By Christmas, if the prayers of the PR people are answered, it will be a worldwide number one hit.

Santo Subito! (‘sainthood immediately!’) is what crowds outside the Vatican traditionally chant when they want someone canonised without delay. Anyone who watched John Paul II’s funeral will remember the numerous banners in the crowds displaying the slogan.

The DVD is a 60-minute compilation of footage of the late Pope cut to music and it includes Vatican archive of his visits to Africa, Auschwitz, Brazil, Britain and the Middle East. What makes the DVD different from the pious offerings you find in the gift shops around the Vatican is that the footage is edited with material shot by Mimmo Verduci, known in Italy for his avant-garde pop promos and commercials. Verduci is a daring choice, but even more controversial is the fact that John Paul’s words are enhanced by a background soundtrack by British composer Simon Boswell.

Apart from his past rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, Boswell is an agnostic and a divorcee, now living in sin with the actress Lysette Anthony. When I ask Vincent Messina, the producer of the DVD, why he chose such an inappropriate heathen, he chuckles. ‘You British have such quaint ideas about how the Vatican operates. Simply, Simon is the best in the world. No one asks if he’s Catholic.’ Messina explains that Boswell’s agnosticism was partly an advantage. Had a Catholic composed the music, ‘We would have had an expected result — something too shy, too careful, too afraid. Simon is not reverential or influenced.