All Sing For St. Bono

If Bono should want to make a serious bid for sainthood, he’d be sure to get a reference from the Bishop of Grantham, who’s planning to conduct a service in which the hymns are replaced by U2 songs.

"Bono and Bob Geldof are very human, but they have demonstrated that they believe there is sanctity to life that has to be protected. If that makes them saints, then I would go along with that," the Right Reverend Timothy Ellis told The Daily Telegraph.

Bishop Ellis is organising what’s being called "a U2-charist" at St. Swithin’s church in Lincoln in May.

It will be recorded by the BBC for a program to be broadcast later in the year, and the bishop hopes it will be replicated across Britain.

The Irish singer isn’t expected to attend the U2-charist in person, though Bishop Ellis is hoping he might send a message.

A live band will belt out the U2 songs and the congregation can sing along from lyric sheets that will be screened around the church.

The £10,000 cost of equipment will be partly funded by the diocese of Lincoln. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has reportedly been kept informed.

The idea for the service was devised by the Rev. Paige Blair, an American Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, who held the first service in 2005.

Since then, she has advised about 150 churches on U2 Eucharists in 15 states and seven countries.