"We're more popular than Jesus now."
Those six words, uttered by John Lennon during a 1966 interview with a reporter (and personal friend) from the London Evening Standard, caused a furor among American Christians. Southern radio stations banned the Beatles' music, folks gathered 'round blazing fires to burn their albums and John was on the receiving end of death threats.
Though John later apologized for the quip, which went virtually unnoticed in his native Britain when originally printed, the "bigger than Jesus" scandal was one that many found hard to put behind them.
Four decades after John spoke those now-infamous words, and twenty-eight years after his sudden and untimely death, the Vatican has forgiven the musician for his statement.
"The remark by John Lennon, which triggered deep indignation mainly in the United States, 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 and roll," Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano said.
"The fact remains that 38 years after breaking up, the songs of the Lennon-McCartney brand have shown an extraordinary resistance to the passage of time, becoming a source of inspiration for more than one generation of pop musicians."
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