Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010
Sinead O'Connor Rips the Pope
Live television met the Vatican in 1992, when Sinead O'Connor performed on Saturday Night Live. The Irish singer set off a firestorm when, after an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War," she tore up a photograph of Pope John Paul II. "Fight the real enemy!" she urged. Not long after, she told TIME she "did it as a symbol of my rejection of what they are teaching people and of my belief that their influence in the world must be torn apart." Nearly 20 years after she dramatically attempted to bring attention to the problem of child abuse in the church, she continues to be vocal on the issue.