Italian Nun Cristina Scuccia has become an internet sensation after a remarkable performance on the Italian version of The Voice. The 25-year-old Sicilian’s performance of Alicia Keys‘ hit song No One has now reached almost 8 million views on YouTube.
The singing nun may not be a novel cultural phenomenon – take The Sound of Music and Sister Act for example – but Cristina Scuccia’s performance on reality television still drew a huge standing ovation and some amazed reactions from the judges, who praised Scuccia’s “crazy energy” and “incredible” performance.
Judge Alessandro Aleotti, a rapper known as J-Ax, asked Cristina if she sang in church on Sundays. She told him that she had not come in fancy dress but was, in fact, “a very real nun”. The Guardian report when she was later asked what she thought the Vatican would make of her performance, the Ursuline sister said, “I don’t know. I’m expecting a telephone call from Pope Francis, certainly. Because he exhorts us to go out, to evangelise, to say that God does not take from us but rather gives us more.”
Last year Scuccia won a Christian music competition as part of the Good News Festival, where she explained that she had developed her talents whilst playing a nun in a musical.
Watch: Italian Nun Cristina Scuccia performs Alicia Keys’ No One on The Voice IT
