John Lennon was forgiven by the Vatican for his 1966 comment that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, Reuters reported.
"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 daily Osservatore Romano said.
After Lennon made the comment to a London newspaper, some Christians in the United Stated became infuriated, and burned the Beatles' records in huge gatherings.
The Vatican newspaper article forgiving Lennon went on to praise the Beatles.
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," it said, according to Reuters.
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