The Vatican "Forgives" John Lennon

An article published in the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, officially "forgave" John Lennon for the infamous comments made in 1966 about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus" with young people around the world. The editorial said the remark was the boast of a young working-class Englishman faced with the flush of unexpected success, implying it was made more in ignorance than with any blasphemous intent.

I'm sure that's a great load off the minds of all of Lennon's surviving family members knowing that he's been forgiven by the Vatican. They must have been frantic with worry. Maybe it was more than a little condescending, but it still wipes his slate clean with the Pope which means... well, actually it means dick all. Talk about a load of sanctimonious bullshit. As if anyone cares anymore what Lennon said forty-two years ago. It smacks of a cheap attempt by the folk in the Vatican to show that they are wise and benevolent without actually having to do anything.

Sure, at the time it raised quite a stink when Lennon made his remarks. He never meant they were more important — which was how the idiots interpreted his comment — but more popular, and there's a good chance he was right. In 1966 if you asked the average teenager if he would rather sit and read a parable by Jesus or listen to a cut from Help, I bet the majority would have picked the latter. Heck, ask the average young person today if they would rather watch an episode of The Simpsons or sit down with the New Testament and see what kind of reaction you get.

Of course I always find it hugely ironic whenever the good folk in the Vatican try to stumble up to the moral high ground and make these sorts of groundless statements. After all this is the same church who funded a poster campaign in Tanzania claiming that condom use leads to death. Considering that one in ten adults in that country's capital city Dar are infected with the HIV/AIDS you'd figure it was the other way around, but maybe their logic is different.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the forthcoming book What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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