Pope John Paul II was the "best front man" the Roman Catholic Church ever had, U2's own front man Bono said Sunday.

The men, both named as nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, campaigned together to end world debt. The lead singer of the Irish rock band once famously gave the Pope his trademark wraparound sunglasses to put on during a meeting, dubbing him "the first funky Pontiff."

"A great show man, a great communicator of ideas even if you didn't agree with all of them, a great friend to the world's poor which is how I got to meet him," Bono said in a statement.

"Without John Paul II its hard to imagine the Drop the Debt campaign succeeding as it did," Bono said, referring to an activist movement which seeks to convince wealthy nations to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries.

The Pope met Bono, along with other pop stars, aid workers and economists, in 1999 to push for rich nations to write off third world debt by the year 2000 and demanded to know why the West was dragging its feet.

"How could you turn this man down?" Bono said at the time.

A fan of popular culture, the Pope once invited Bob Dylan to perform for him at a church congress in Bologna and joined the Eurythmics, Alanis Morissette and Lou Reed at a concert in Rome in aid of debt reduction.

In January last year at the Vatican, the pontiff even presided over a performance of breakdancers from his home country of Poland.
(Reuters)