Pharrell Williams gives heartfelt, urgent remarks during the historic “Grace for the World” concert at St. Peter’s Square.
It might sound like the setup to an unlikely joke, but Clipse, Pharrell Williams, and John Legend just made history on the steps of the Vatican.
On Saturday, September 13, 2025, the Virginia rap duo (which includes Pusha T and his brother No Malice) became the first rap act to ever perform at the Vatican, delivering a stunning performance alongside John Legend in St. Peter’s Square before an audience of more than 250,000.
The performance, backed by the gospel choir Voices of Fire, was part of “Grace for the World”, a special concert during the “World Meeting on Human Fraternity,” an international summit promoting global unity, human dignity and peace.
Dressed in stark black suits, Clipse opened the set with the solemn verses of “The Birds Don’t Sing,” a track from their latest album “Let God Sort Em Out” that pays tribute to their late parents. Legend joined in on the hook, his soaring vocals elevating the song’s meditations on grief and faith.
The Vatican event was co-directed by Pharrell and Andrea Bocelli through Pharrell’s company, Something in the Water and streamed live on ABC News Live and Disney+. The concert was designed as a moment of unity, remembrance, and shared humanity, bringing together Clipse, Legend, Bocelli, and a wide-ranging lineup of global artists. The one-night gathering featured performances by Jennifer Hudson, Karol G, BamBam, Teddy Swims, Jelly Roll, Angélique Kidjo, and the Voices of Fire choir, with St. Peter’s Square transformed into a stage for peace.
“To stand here in this holy place with my fellow artists, world leaders, and all of you beautiful souls. My humblest and sincerest thanks,” Williams said during his remarks, thanking Leo XIV for opening the doors of such a “sacred” place.
“We feel grace. We feel love. Do you feel it too?” he continued. “But what is grace? Grace is a light that lives in each of us waiting to be shared, not just the blessing that we receive, but a force that we extend to one another.”
After noting how within every culture, language, and story there is the same spirit and “the light of the universe” he added how the concert and the event it was marking are opportunities “for all of the light to come together.” He asked the crowd to turn their cellphone camera lights on and St. Peter’s Square became illuminated by thousands of lights.
“This is 300,000 lights, all denominations. The only way to get to that light is to have grace for others,” he said. “Too often, humanity sees difference as danger. We judge before we understand. But Grace whispers, wait and curiosity asks, why. Imagine if, instead of saying you are not like me, we ask, What can I learn from you? What light do you carry that I do not and just maybe on the other side of that question mark is the answer right there, waiting for everyone.”
He added, “Grace makes space. Curiosity leans in together. They can carry us toward one another. Grace and curiosity are not luxuries, but guys, they are remedies, remedies for division, which there’s so much in the world right now.”
He noted how there’s also despair but that shining ones light in the world regardless is how “walls become windows and how borders become bridges. How your light becomes my light and my light becomes yours.”
Finally, he concluded by saying, “So, in this historic moment, I ask you to choose grace, choose curiosity. Choose them, until they become contagious, and together, we will flood the world with this light and this love, not with power and pride, but with light and love, always with the light and love.”
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