Jelly Roll and Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City on Sept. 13, 2025. Courtesy of Jelly Roll

“Can we give God a little glory tonight, please?” shouted Jelly Roll, the 357-pound, tattoo-covered country and gospel star, to a crowd of more than 250,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The first concert held there in nearly 2,000 years, taking place with the blessing of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV as part of the 2025 Jubilee Year celebrations during the Grace for the World event.

It is uncommon for Catholic liturgies to feature popular or gospel music, as Mass is generally solemn and quiet.

Yet while the style and language may differ, Catholics and Protestants alike worship the same Jesus, and the sentiments expressed in Jelly Roll’s songs resonate across denominations.

His lyrics speak to universal Christian struggles: “There’s days when a praise comes out easy, and days when it takes all the strength I’ve got.” Every believer has known both doubt and perseverance in faith.

Jelly Roll’s own background makes his story even more compelling. Once a man of prison cells and drug addiction, he now embodies redemption, what he himself called a journey “from rock bottom to holy ground.”

His unique blend of Christian pop and gospel has carried faith-filled messages into bars, pool halls, and even Times Square, where he performed I Only Need a Prayer during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in 2023–2024. That song captures a hard truth: so many people only turn to God when they need a favor.

At the Vatican, Jelly Roll performed Hard Fought Hallelujah, a song whose lyrics mirror his own struggle:

“I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, been-through-hell hallelujah,
I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail story-to-tell hallelujah.”

Born Jason DeFord, the 40-year-old singer from Tennessee has a difficult past. At 16, he was arrested for aggravated robbery, charged as an adult, and spent more than a year in prison, followed by seven years of probation.

He later served multiple sentences for drug-related offenses. For years, his criminal record barred him from traveling internationally, but in recent years he was granted permission to perform abroad.

His song Son of a Sinner best describes how he moved on and left his past behind: “I took the rearview off of this old Ford so I only see in front of me / Now the past is out of sight and out of mind.”

Jelly Roll has also undergone a dramatic physical transformation, shedding more than 200 pounds after once weighing over 500.

Today, he stands not only as a Grammy-nominated artist but as a living witness to redemption, reconciliation, and the surprising ways God can use a broken past to bring glory on the grandest of stages, even before the Pope himself.

The timing of the Vatican concert was crucial, coming just after the assassination of Christian conservative Charlie Kirk, who is being called a martyr for speaking hard, unpopular truths from both a Biblical and scientific standpoint.

His death triggered a Christian awakening. Across the globe, believers have been honoring him with prayer services, while multiple Catholic groups, schools, and universities have commemorated him by praying the Rosary for his family.

In the United States, vigils were held from Seattle to Capitol Hill, from Arizona to Idaho.

Turning Point USA campus chapters organized gatherings, while Catholic groups prayed the Rosary for the eternal rest of his soul.

Thousands of mourners described Kirk as a defender of freedom and a man of faith whose life was cut short by political violence.

Charlie’s widow, Erika Kirk, who was raised Catholic, publicly displayed her Rosary from the window of the limousine as her husband’s body was transported home.

Just weeks before his assassination, one of Charlie’s videos honored the Blessed Virgin Mary, urging Protestants and Evangelicals to give her greater reverence. He even called her the solution to “toxic feminism.”

Kirk said: “I think that we as Protestant Evangelicals undervenerate Mary. She was very important; she was a vessel for our Lord and Savior. I think that we as Evangelicals and Protestants … we don’t talk about Mary enough, we don’t venerate her enough. Mary was clearly important to early Christians … because she was a vessel chosen by God Almighty that brought our Lord into this world.”

He went on to say: “I believe one of the ways that we fix toxic feminism in America is-Mary is the solution. Mary is a phenomenal example and I think a counter to so much of the toxicity of feminism in the modern era.”

Jelly Roll’s Vatican performance represents a powerful redemption story.

The Vatican’s willingness, under Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, to host contemporary Christian and country artists demonstrates the Church’s recognition that worship and praise can take many forms while serving the same God.

His appearance in Rome symbolized both personal redemption and a moment of cultural significance, blending country, gospel, and faith at the heart of Catholicism.

At the same time, it is hopefully part of a broader movement for Catholics and Protestants to accept one another, unite under a single Jesus, and stand against the woke leftist madness that is dragging people away from faith. This could be the true Turning Point, that Charlie Kirk founded.