Ringo Starr has not accepted the Vatican’s moves to forgive the Beatles for John Lennon’s 1966 claim that the group was ‘bigger than Jesus,’ Spinner.com reported on April 15. This comes after Pope Benedict XVI sanctioned the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, to praise the Beatles’ music and absolve them for their rock star lifestyle.
The drummer seems unfazed by the Vatican’s move, which comes two years after it initially expressed its forgiveness for the Beatles self-indulgent ways in the ’60s. The L’Osservatore Romano was taking part in the 40th anniversary of the record ‘The Beatles,’ and called it a “magical musical anthology.”
Starr wondered why the Church would forgive the group, asking “Didn’t the Vatican say we were Satanic or possibly Satanic?” He also said that he thinks the Vatican has more to discuss than the Beatles, in reference to the current sex abuse scandal involving priests and pedophilia in the Catholic Church.
The Pope is under controversy as he nears his 83rd birthday and the fifth anniversary of his papacy. Sex scandals are breaking out across the world, including Ireland, Brazil and New Zealand. He has been accused of being too lenient towards pedophile priests during the ’80s when he served as archbishop of Munich, and later when he was the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal enforcement department.
Written by: Karen Benardello
Ringo Starr
