Sinead O'Connor wants to officially leave the Roman Catholic church and has asked Pope Francis to excommunicate her.
In an open letter to the pontiff, who is visiting Ireland this week, O'Connor said: "I have several times requested from the Vatican a certificate which I could proudly display to my grandchildren to prove that Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II excommunicated me for being ordained.
"Can you please arrange it be brought with you on the plane and perhaps presented to me at Croke Park?"
In her plea, published in the Sunday Irish Independent and Irish Central, O'Connor also calls the Vatican "a nest of devils" and asked for the establishment of an "alternative church."
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, who in 1992 infamously tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on "Saturday Night Live," added: "I actually like you. You're funny. Very funny. You can make your pope robes vanish and be 'just a man' with your jokes."
Pope Francis arrives in Dublin on Aug. 25 to attend the World Meeting of Families conference and visit Catholic churches in the area.
His trip comes as the Catholic Church reels from a report by a Pennsylvania grand jury that more than 1,000 children in six dioceses were molested by 300 Catholic priests over the past 70 years, crimes that were covered up by clergy.
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