U2 never had a "religious period". They're just a group of guys of varying levels of religiosity which is used to inform their artwork from time to time.
i suppose it's to be expected that some will try to elevate a song with gasp LATIN VERSES, to validate their own beliefs or, at least, claim Bono as one of their own, but sometimes, a cigar IS just a cigar.
Rather than a self-congratulatory paen to Catholicism or faith, "Gloria" is actually simpler and more clever: It's about a guy in love with a woman he calls Gloria. She's so perfect, so unassailable, that he's deified her and is singing about his attraction to her as something akin to religious reverence. The name, Gloria, either real or a pseudonym fits perfectly for his worship of this new god.
So, no, this wasn't written to quell sectarian tensions in Ireland, as part of a larger "period" in U2's evolution (pun intended), or to satisfy Bono's craving to exalt the idea of faith.
U2 never had a "religious period". They're just a group of guys of varying levels of religiosity which is used to inform their artwork from time to time.
i suppose it's to be expected that some will try to elevate a song with gasp LATIN VERSES, to validate their own beliefs or, at least, claim Bono as one of their own, but sometimes, a cigar IS just a cigar.
Rather than a self-congratulatory paen to Catholicism or faith, "Gloria" is actually simpler and more clever: It's about a guy in love with a woman he calls Gloria. She's so perfect, so unassailable, that he's deified her and is singing about his attraction to her as something akin to religious reverence. The name, Gloria, either real or a pseudonym fits perfectly for his worship of this new god.
So, no, this wasn't written to quell sectarian tensions in Ireland, as part of a larger "period" in U2's evolution (pun intended), or to satisfy Bono's craving to exalt the idea of faith.
He had fallen for someone.
Hard.