Vatican 'forgives' John Lennon

[Andrew49]

A Vatican newspaper has forgiven the late English singer John Lennon for saying four decades ago that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

In an article praising The Beatles, L'Osservatore Romano said Lennon had just been showing off. Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll. At the time, the comparison sparked controversy in the US. The semi-official Vatican newspaper marked the 40th anniversary of The Beatles' "White Album" with an article praising Lennon and the Fab Four from Liverpool.

The paper dismissed Lennon's much-criticised remark that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ as a youthful joke. The paper described the remark as "showing off, bragging by a young English working-class musician who had grown up in the age of Elvis Presley and rock and roll and had enjoyed unexpected success".

L'Osservatore Romano recently got a new editor and now - apart from chronicling the Pope's daily doings and printing the texts of papal speeches - it sometimes runs articles on entertainment on inside pages, together with extensive reporting on world affairs.

In a half-page illustrated article, the paper praised The Beatles for what it called their "unique and strange alchemy of sounds and words". The newspaper said The Beatles's songs had shown an extraordinary capacity for survival and the White Album album remained a "magical musical anthology". In another article on the same page entitled "Twilight of the gods" the newspaper lamented the passing of the golden days of Hollywood and said the mysterious fascination of the star system of Hollywood in the 1950s had been superseded by the cult of so-called celebrities.

Although Pope Benedict has criticised many aspects of modern pop culture, he now allows the newspaper of the tiny independent Vatican state to reflect the reality of the world outside in a way that would have been unthinkable in the days of Pope Paul VI who reigned during heyday of The Beatles.

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[TradCat]

Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll.

Well, now we know. There hasn't been a good band since The Smiths but we have the best Pope in decades.

[Supermanpolitician]

Isn't this one of the most often misquoted items in history? Lennon actually said "In some people's minds, we are bigger than Jesus" and never actually claimed to be bigger.

[MauriceColgan]

Holy Hound Dog!

"the Elvis Presley age" Elvis still here too, he is on the current cover of "Record Collector" and his latest Christmas Duets CD is in the music charts! Imagine that John.

An Extraordinary Story.

[Bobert]

I'm sure 50,million Beatles fans have breathed a sigh of relief.

[Twilight]

Well, thank goodness for that. I can stop my praying for John now seeing how God has hoiked him out of hell and into heaven, on the word of the Vatican newspaper. Who else I wonder, could be saved, that once was lost....?

[Andrew49]

Lennon was interviewed for the London Evening Standard by Maureen Cleave, and talked about Christianity by saying:

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I do not know what will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity...We're more popular than Jesus now."

[riker1969]

Jesus-who cares? The Beatles broke up 1970. Lennon is dead . I'm a huge Beatles Fan but some Vatican Paper writing an article in praise of them, will make no difference to fans or those who dislike them or the changes brought on by the 1960s.

[Andrew49]

Apparently the Vatican cares! And perhaps they're trying to jump on the Beatles bandwagon 40 years after the wheels came off!

I'm wondering if they read fully John's remarks:

Lennon told London's Evening Standard.

"[Christianity] will vanish and shrink ... Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

When it comes to other acts - the Stones, say, or Coldplay - the Vatican's editors were not so generous. The Beatles were praiseworthy, the article said, because they differed from the "standardised, stereotypical" music that haunts contemporary society."

In other words, Pope Benedict XVI has heard the new Guns N' Roses album.

Source for above

[Dasayev]

There's a touch of the Onion about this story.