From the Times, 25Th Nov 1996.

Cardinal condemns pop devil music

                                          FROM RICHARD OWEN
                                               IN ROME

                        ONE of the Roman Catholic world's most powerful figures
                        has branded rock music an "instrument of the Devil" and
                        urged young people not to listen to it for fear of
                        endangering their souls.

                        Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the modern successor
                        to the Inquisition, said there were "diabolical and
                        satanic messages" in much of today's heavy metal music.
                        But he also warned the young against the "subliminal"
                        satanic influence to be found in songs by such groups
                        as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen,
                        Led Zeppelin and the Eagles.

                        Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregration for
                        the Doctrine of the Faith, is considered the highest
                        moral authority in the Vatican after the Pope, at whose
                        side he has been for almost all of the latter's 18-year
                        reign. His stern admonishment and even excommunication
                        of dissident theologians has earned him a fearsome
                        reputation.

                        Speaking yesterday at a Mass marking the feast of St
                        Cecilia, the patron saint of music, Cardinal Ratzinger
                        agreed that there were many good things in modern pop
                        music, but added that there was also a great deal that
                        "endangers the human soul". He urged heavy metal bands
                        in particular to "purify themselves".

                        Vatican officials identified some of the "worst
                        offenders" as Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and AC/DC,
                        whose initials they claimed referred not to alternating
                        current or even bisexuality, but to the satanic phrase
                        "Anti-Christ, Death to Christ".

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Wondering what all these "loving" and "tolerant" would be saying if the
above was said by a muslim religious figure?

On the sideline, it's good to know that the Inquisition, some liar is trying
to pass as a "spanish" phenomenon, is still alive and well, albeit in a
modern form to suit the latest fashion of course. God, what would these "loving"
and "tolerant" people would do if they ever manage to govern again...!