Music · Vatican City and Rome

Jennifer Hudson to headline Vatican charity concert with Pope Leo on 5 December

The seventh Concerto con i Poveri takes place on 5 December at the Paul VI Hall, with Pope Leo XIV attending and about 8,000 guests expected.

AI text based on reports by Il Messaggero, Adnkronos, ANSA.it and other publishers. Published on 5 Nov at 16:29. How it is made

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In brief

Photo: Kolby Ari, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons, cropped)

The concert and its headliner

The seventh Concerto con i Poveri is set for Saturday, 5 December 2026, at 17:30 in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, in the presence of Pope Leo XIV. Jennifer Hudson will be the headline performer. The American singer and actress has won all four main American entertainment awards, the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, a combination known as EGOT. Her Oscar came for her role in Dreamgirls, and she is described as one of the most admired performers of her generation.

Performers and organisers

Hudson will sing with the Nova Opera Orchestra and the Choir of the Diocese of Rome, under the artistic direction of Monsignor Marco Frisina. Serena Autieri will appear as a special guest, and maestro Enzo Campagnoli will conduct the orchestra. The concert is promoted and organised by the Fondazione Nova Opera ETS. As the promoters describe it, the evening is meant to bring together the American musical tradition, spirituality and solidarity, with music carrying a message of hope, fraternity and sharing.

Audience and broadcast

About 8,000 people are expected in the hall. Over 3,000 of them live in conditions of poverty or fragility and will sit in the front rows as the evening's guests of honour. The concert will be broadcast live on television and streamed worldwide by leading Catholic broadcasters, carrying the performance from the centre of the Vatican to viewers across the world.

Expected attendance at the 5 December concertpeople

Data from the article text

A separate Clooney concert

A separate preview, published on 4 November, names George and Amal Clooney as participants in the 34th Christmas concert in the Vatican, scheduled for 12 December in the same Paul VI Hall. That edition is dedicated to universal peace and education, and it is not presented as the same event as the 5 December concert. George Clooney is expected to make an appeal for peace during the evening, stressing education, the protection of rights and the protection of the most vulnerable.

On 12 December at 11:00, the Pace ed Educazione international award is due to be presented to the Clooney Foundation for Justice at the Campidoglio by Don Fabio Attard, Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation, and Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri. The concert is recorded on 12 December and will air in prime time over the Christmas period. The evening also supports a fundraising drive by Missioni Don Bosco to build a school in Madagascar.

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