Jelly Roll has met the pope! The singer took to Instagram to share of him shanking hands with Pope Leo XIV during a recent visit to Italy.
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In the pic, Jelly Rolly beamed as he met the head of the Catholic church, smiling with awe in his eyes.
“From rock bottom to holy ground,” Jelly Roll captioned his post.
He also included a Bible verse, Matthew 18:20, which reads, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Jelly Roll was in town for Grace for the World concert at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The show, which closed the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity, featured performances by stars including Andrea Bocelli, Teddy Swims, Karol G, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson.
When it was his time to take the stage, Jelly Roll performed his and Brandon Lake’s song, “Hard Fought Hallelujah.”
Lake praised Jelly Roll’s performance. In the comments section, Lake wrote, “Crushed it! This is what our world needs right now more than ever. Thanks for leading us Jelly!”
Jelly Roll’s Tumultuous Past
Jelly Roll’s Vatican visit is a huge moment for the singer. Until last year, Jelly Roll was unable to perform outside of the U.S. due to his past felonies.
Jelly had previously served prison time for drug-related offenses. When he was 16, he was arrested for aggravated robbery. Jelly was charged as an adult and spent more than a year in prison, and served seven years probation.
In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Jelly opened up about his run-ins with the law.
“I never want to overlook the fact that it was a heinous crime,” he said. “This is a grown man looking back at a 16-year-old kid that made the worst decision that he could have made in life and people could have got hurt and, by the grace of God, thankfully, nobody did.”
At the time, authorities were “talking about giving me more time than I’d been alive.”
“I was charged as an adult years before I could buy a beer, lease an apartment, get a pack of cigarettes,” he said. “I feel like the justice system at that point kind of parked me on my only set path.”
A year later, Jelly Roll performed his first international shows in Canada. The following year, as part of Post Malone’s Big Ass World Tour, Jelly Roll traveled to and performed in Europe.
Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/WireImage
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