Two American Catholics Stole the Super Bowl Halftime Show
Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga turned the world’s biggest stage into a celebration of faith, family and the diversity of American Catholicism — outshining a feeble MAGA counter-program in the process.
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At Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara on Sunday night, a Puerto Rican former choirboy and an Italian-American pop icon teamed up to deliver the most-watched halftime show in NFL history. Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga — both proudly shaped by Catholic upbringings — stole the show with a performance that had a distinctly Catholic flavor.
While a fringe MAGA crowd tuned in to an “All-American” alternative concert headlined by Kid Rock (playing to a few hundred people in a secret location), over 135 million viewers watched Bad Bunny’s official Apple Music Halftime spectacle.
The Turning Point USA livestream with Kid Rock drew roughly 5 million online viewers (about 5% of the main event’s audience) — a stark reminder that in today’s America, inclusive joy can beat out manufactured outrage.
While Kid Rock, 55, stumbled through old lyrics about having sex with strippers, the rest of America was celebrating marriage and family on the main stage.
Bad Bunny’s Faith-Fueled Journey
Bad Bunny is an unlikely Catholic ambassador on the surface — known for flamboyant reggaetón anthems — yet his roots trace back to a devout Catholic home in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Born Benito Martínez Ocasio, he was raised in a very religious family that attended Mass weekly.
In fact, Benito got his musical start in the church choir at Most Holy Trinity Parish and even served as an altar boy. “I learned that I was the best in the choir and I worked the hardest,” he once said, crediting the church for laying the foundation of his work ethic and superstar career.
Though he isn’t a regular churchgoer now — he’s joked that “God is everywhere, so why do I need to go to church?” — Bad Bunny acknowledges those early Catholic experiences shaped his life.
They certainly shaped his conscience: the 31-year-old has not shied from social causes, famously pumping nearly $200 million into his native island’s economy with a 2025 concert series for Puerto Rico’s recovery.
His mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, is a faithful Catholic who still serves as a church catechist back home, and she prays that her son will one day celebrate his wedding in the Church. “She would love for me to get married in the church,” Bad Bunny says. That genuine Catholic upbringing — centered on family, service, and hope — was on full display on Sunday night.
Lady Gaga’s Catholic Roots and Resilience
Joining Bad Bunny as a surprise guest was Lady Gaga, herself a proud Catholic from New York.
Stefani Germanotta grew up in a tight-knit Italian Catholic family and attended a Catholic girls’ school in Manhattan.
“I am very religious. I was raised Catholic. I believe in Jesus. I believe in God,” Gaga told Larry King in an interview, pushing back against those who assume her avant-garde art conflicts with her faith.
In 2016, after a Catholic website questioned her lifestyle, Gaga publicly defended her Catholic faith, invoking the Gospel’s embrace of sinners.
She reminded critics that Jesus loved Mary Magdalene — “a prostitute whom he loved and did not judge” — and that even imperfect people seek God: “We are humans and sinners. God is never a trend.”
Gaga’s blend of devotion and inclusivity has long been part of her persona (she’s thanked parish priests for moving homilies), and on the Super Bowl stage she channeled those roots.
Dressed like a glamorous choir soloist, Gaga joined Bad Bunny to sing during a very special moment of the show: an actual wedding ceremony unfolding live on stage.
A Halftime Show of Faith, Family and Diversity
Yes, a real wedding took place at halftime. Halfway through the set, Bad Bunny brought out a real couple in love — and right there in the center of Levi’s Stadium, with millions watching, they exchanged vows and were married.
Lady Gaga serenaded the newlyweds as they kissed, and Bad Bunny himself served as the official witness, reportedly signing the marriage certificate afterward.
It was a jaw-dropping celebration of matrimony — at an event typically known for flashy dance numbers and corporate spectacle.
The show doubled down on themes of family life: several of Bad Bunny’s own relatives and hometown friends were featured on stage, and the finale saw dozens of performers of all ages and backgrounds hugging in a tableau of unity.
Perhaps the most poignant touch was when Bad Bunny knelt to hand a small boy a replica Grammy award, telling him “Cree siempre en ti” (“Always believe in yourself”).
Many viewers mistook the child for a real-life migrant boy who’d been in ICE detention — a rumor later debunked — but the mere fact it was credible speaks to the emotional power of the moment.
Bad Bunny was symbolically honoring the dreams of the younger generation, especially immigrant kids like Liam Ramos (the Ecuadorian 5-year-old whose ghastly detention by ICE made headlines).
In a show filled with Catholic imagery, he made a simple Gospel message resound: “Let the children come to me.”
One viral meme circulating after the game showed a performer holding an oversized decorated candle and Bible on stage — just as children do at First Holy Communion — with the caption, “when my parents took me to make my first communion.”
The halftime production unabashedly incorporated such Catholic symbols, from the white veils and flowers to the Spanish prayer that Bad Bunny recited at one point.
Catholic Twitter rejoiced in the moment, flooding the internet with jokes and nostalgic comparisons of childhood sacraments to Super Bowl spectacle. It was a refreshingly wholesome moment of cultural crossover.
The sight of a pop superstar holding up a white candle in front of 100,000 cheering fans felt surreal — in the best way. As one commenter noted humorously, “Every Latino household got a first communion pic like this. Love it”.
The memes underscore how seamlessly faith has mingled with mainstream culture in this performance, giving Catholics everywhere a proud wink.
Beyond the Catholic rituals, the show was a tribute to God’s gift of diversity.
Bad Bunny made history as the first artist to headline a Super Bowl halftime predominantly in Spanish, and he used the platform to celebrate the América that extends beyond U.S. borders. At one climactic moment he waved the Puerto Rican flag high, surrounded by flags of many Latin American countries, and proclaimed:
“Together, we are America”.
That simple statement — delivered in Spanish and English — brought the stadium to its feet. It was as if an immigrant church assembly had burst onto the pop stage: a joyful choir of nations, united in a message of hope. Bad Bunny even flashed a massive billboard screen that read, “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” earning a roar from the crowd.
Love was the through-line of the entire performance: love of family, love of culture, love of neighbor. In an era of loud division, this halftime show preached unity without saying a word.
A Triumph for American Catholicism
It’s hard to overstate how dramatically Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga’s Catholic-infused spectacle eclipsed the MAGA world’s attempt to hijack the moment.
While the two pop stars were busy uplifting the poor and marginalized (Bad Bunny’s crew included members of Puerto Rico’s trans community and folks from his hometown), honoring marriage, and calling for love over hatred — certain right-wing pundits were left sputtering.
President Donald Trump, who skipped the Super Bowl to avoid the boos he famously got last year, fumed online that the halftime show was “absolutely terrible” and “doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence” (he notably complained “nobody understands a word” of the Spanish lyrics).
His allies baselessly attacked the performance as obscene — one provocateur outrageously called the Latin dance routines “twerking by illegal aliens” and griped that “This isn’t White enough for me.”
But these bitter reactions only highlighted the real divide: on one side, an insular vision of America defined by anger and fear; on the other, an inclusive vision radiating joy and faith.
The diverse, faithful energy of last night’s show made the right-wing culture warriors look small.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, has shown a keen desire to bridge the gap between the Church and pop culture. Just this past November, Leo hosted a gathering of Hollywood stars at the Vatican — from Spike Lee to Cate Blanchett — and praised cinema as a “vital workshop of hope” in troubled times.
He urged artists to use their craft to uplift humanity, echoing the very ethos we saw at the Super Bowl. Pope Leo has made clear that the Gospel belongs in the streets and the stadiums, not just within church walls.
Last night’s halftime extravaganza was a perfect case in point: it brought Gospel values to the biggest arena on Earth, not through preaching, but through the universal languages of music and love. This was inculturation at its finest — the faith animated in the vernacular of mass entertainment.
When Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga embraced on stage amid fireworks and cheers, they embodied a truth often forgotten: American Catholicism is incredibly diverse, youthful, and alive.
Here were a Puerto Rican urbano singer and an Italian-American mega-star, each formed by Catholic tradition, standing together to delight a nation. They broke records, but more importantly, they broke stereotypes.
This is 21st-century Catholic America: devout abuelas and tattooed rappers, schoolgirls and superstars, all part of the same tapestry. Sunday night was a triumph of this American Catholic mosaic. The faith of the poor and humble — the faith of abuelitas, immigrant families, choir kids — took center stage and won the day.
In the end, the Super Bowl Halftime Show of 2026 will be remembered as far more than a concert. It became a national examination of conscience and a joyous proclamation of what unites us.
Marriage was honored. Family was celebrated. Different cultures prayed and danced as one. And the loudest message wasn’t partisan sloganeering, but “Love conquers all.”
Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga brought the Church’s ethos into living rooms and sports bars everywhere, without a hint of cringe or apology. They made it cool to cheer for amor y familia on Super Bowl Sunday.
American Catholics can be proud today: our little ones and our pop legends alike have reminded the world that the Church’s heart still beats strong, in every language and every rhythm. And to that we say, amen.
On behalf of the millions of American Catholics fighting every day for the dignity of our sisters and brothers of every race, ethnicity, religion, and way of life, Letters from Leo stands ready to labor shoulder to shoulder with anyone of conscience willing to defend human dignity and tell the truth about this moment in our country.
Deal us in.
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The contrast between the exuberant, loud, tsunami of love, pure joy, and real faith gushing from Bad Bunny's visual and aural testament to true America and the frigid, sterile, and truly soulless desert of the Christian Nationalists and their tight-lipped hatred of everything "different" from their evangelical, frozen white selves could not have been more cataclysmic.
I cannot imagine ever being--or ever wanting to be--aligned with MAGA.
Once a Catholic, always a Catholic. The world is a church. 🐇 🐰