Let it be: Vatican forgives Beatles for Lennon's 'more popular than Jesus' claim

By Mail Foreign Service
22nd November 2008

The Beatles have finally been forgiven by the Vatican for suggesting they were more popular than Jesus.
John Lennon's infamous claim in March 1966 that the Fab Four surpassed Christ in the popularity stakes caused an uproar at the time, with some conservative Christians burning Beatles albums. The band also received death threats.

But today the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, which reflects opinion at the very top of the Roman Catholic Church, marks the 40th anniversary of the 'White Album' by dismissing as a 'quip' Lennon's remark - and it goes on to pour praise on the band.

It says the legendary double album - which came out on November 22, 1968 at the height of the Fab Four's influence and popularity - was 'a magical musical anthology' from a band 'full of talent'.
And it says: '(Lennon's) phrase provoked deep indignation at the time, but sounds today like a quip from a young man from the English working class overtaken by unexpected success.'
The real talent of the Beatles, it said, 'rested in their unequalled capacity to write popular songs with a sort of euphoric lightness that constituted a genuine trademark'.

'Today,' it went on to lament, 'recordings seem above all to be standardised and stereotyped - falling well short of the creativity of the Beatles.'

'The talent of Lennon and the other Beatles gave us some of the best pages in modern pop music.'
Only 'snobs', it said, would dismiss the Beatles' songs, which had shown 'an extraordinary resistance to the effects of time, providing inspiration for several generations of pop musicians'.

Lennon had told a reporter from the London Evening Standard in 1966: 'Christianity will go.
'It will vanish and shrink. We're more popular than Jesus now - I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.'

Later Lennon tried to explain his comment in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1969.

'It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ.

'Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea because I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans,' he said. 'And if I can turn the focus of the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.'
He said: 'If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls.'
He said he did not have a notion of a 'physical heaven,' adding that 'the kingdom of heaven is within you, Christ said, and I believe that.'

The interview was given the year Lennon quit the Beatles and embarked on a solo career that ended with his death in 1980 when he was shot by Mark Chapman in New York.

The Vatican newspaper has been trying to shed its stuffy image recently and in July it made its peace with Elvis.

It recalled the the once-outlawed pelvis-twister as a 'nice, sensitive young man' who was doomed by fame.

" the beatles were good, but they weren't that good.  "


WHAT ?! .. !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9oX-kZ_9k


!!!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw9oX-kZ_9k

sweetcharmedlife wrote on Nov 22^nd, 2008 at 5:23pm:


i'm not so sure about that...most people take jesus pretty seriously, especially this time of year.

the real question is whether the Mormons have targeted him for post-life baptism!

If he said we are more popular than mickey mouse, would it have been a big deal? Needed to be forgiven? The idiocy of religious, that not only did people freak out and take the comment out of context, now the catholic church forgives him. I hope they are sorry for having sex with children too... what about all the other christian denominations, have they forgiven? You know what this really is? It is a dying religions attempt to get some attention, by acting like they forgive somebody, who didn't do anything!!!
Jesus... save us from your followers, they are really weird and annoying!

may Mr. Chapman visit your loved ones

Who gives a shit about what a bunch of kid diddling old farts in Italy have to say about this.

Lennon was right, he didn't say we're more important the Jesus, saying "We're more popular than Jesus" was true, the people all over the world was talking more about the Beatles than about Jesus, also remember the Beatles were popular in the far east were we have a BIG population and most of them don't know about Jesus

So we need to wait a little more to have the Vatican forgiving John Lennon for the quote / lyrics "The Pope Smokes Dope"

http://mx.youtube.com/watch?v=wnD-Di0UGyg

Does this mean they forgive Yoko too?

I wouldn't be surprised if Lennon didn't mean it quite literally.... after all at the height of Beatlemania it would have seemed that there was something afoot and a seachange was taking place. The '60's seemed like the dawn of new possiblities with newer forms of spirituality and consciousness... turn off your mind, relax and float downstream.

Goes to show the resilience of the old religions... or at least the ongoing human need for them.

Joey wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2008 at 6:49pm:

weeding?

stones67 wrote on Nov 23^rd, 2008 at 6:46pm:



Well, in an interview he conducted after the "statement", he tried to explain that he could have said "The Beatles are more popular than television", or any number of other things. And that he was not saying they were better or greater or comparing them to Jesus Christ as a person or God as a "thing"...."I said what I said and it was wrong, or it was taken wrong..."