A Colombian nun will rap for Pope Francis when he visits her country this week.

Sister Maria Valentina de los Angeles is one of a group who will sing the official song for the Argentine pope's visit as he greets the crowds.

The 28-year-old nun, who dresses in trainers, told AFP that the visit is 'an opportunity to show him our love the way that we know, which is through music'.

She added: 'The cool thing about rap is that it sticks in your head easily. And when it has the depth of truth, which is Christ, then it is even more striking.'

The nun-turned-rapper performs a rap interlude among the upbeat Latin tune to the song Let's Take The First Step by the United Catholic Musicians.

The ensemble sought her out after she won a reality-show competition on television called Another Level.

The United Catholic Musicians praised the natural style of her rapping and invited her to compose and perform the rap interlude.

A video of the nun rapping was shown on the BBC News website.

Pope Francis is set to visit Colombia, a Catholic country of 47 million, from tomorrow until Sunday.

He is credited with helping secure a peace deal signed last year between the Colombian government and the leftist FARC rebel force after half a century of war.

'Colombia welcomes you with open arms,' Sister Maria Valentina will rap. 'With one voice happily we say to you: blessed be God, who in his wisdom has brought you to our land to be its guide.'

The nun said she likes the rebellious nature of rap, adding that it chimes with Pope Francis's own call to the young to 'make trouble'.and fearlessly share their faith.

'Trouble in the way the holy father means it is being different, being bold and bringing a message of joy, hope and charity,' she told AFP in the western city of Cali, where she is based.

'Our intention beyond just thanking the Holy Father is to act as a church so that all people can sing with us.'

Sister Maria Valentina is a member of the Community of Eucharistic Communicators of the Heavenly Father in Cali. The community was formed in response to a call from the late Pope Jean Paul II for artists to use their work as a means of spreading the gospel. Its members include a television producer and a musical group including Maria Valentina, which has made two records, according to AFP.

'God wants to be known through the media,' she said. 'He has to make himself known by way of current trends.'

In her youth, Sister Maria Valentina also strummed the ukelele and played rock guitar.

She said that God saved her from a serious liver disease when she was a youngster.

'My dream is to be a good nun. Making music is a second dream,' she said.

'I want to make more recordings, but more than making people fall in love with my voice, I want to make them fall in with Jesus.'