Vatican forgives Lennon’s boast of popularity

THE Vatican’s newspaper has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a “boast” by a young man grappling with sudden fame.

Vatican media are now praising the Beatles’s musical legacy and sounding philosophical about John Lennon’s boast that the band was more popular than Jesus.

Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano recalls that Lennon’s comment outraged many when he made it in 1966.

But it said in its Saturday edition that the remark can be written off now as the bragging of a young man wrestling with unexpected success.

The newspaper, as well as Vatican Radio, last week noted the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ White album.

It said the album demonstrated how creative the Beatles were, compared with what it called the “standardised, stereotypical” songs produced today.

The comment by Lennon to a London newspaper in 1966 infuriated Christians, particularly in the US, some of whom burned Beatles’ albums in huge piles.

Showing time has healed that wound L’Osservatore Romano said: “The remark by John Lennon, which triggered deep indignation mainly in the US, after many years sounds only like a ‘boast’ by a young working-class Englishman faced with unexpected success, after growing up in the legend of Elvis and rock ’n’ roll.”