His Holiness Pope Leo XIV granted a private audience to Italian American tenor Luciano Lamonarca, a Scarsdale resident, who won the “Best Male Singer” award at the Catholic Music Awards 2025 at the Vatican.

The meeting took place in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican on December 18.

Pope Leo commended Lamonarca’s recent award and then focused on learning more about the international project “Tu Scendi dalle Stelle” (“From Starry Skies Descending”), one of Italy’s most famous Christmas songs. A special rendition of the tenor’s performance of the song has been made available free of charge on the official website www.tuscendidallestelle.com, launched on the 270th anniversary of the song’s composition. 

Pope Leo XIV confirmed to the tenor to know only the Italian version of the song, and gave His blessing to the music project.