VATICAN FORGIVES JOHN LENNON

(ANSA) - Vatican City, November 21 - The Vatican on Friday praised the Beatles in a newspaper article that appeared to bury the hatchet on John Lennnon's infamous 'more famous than Jesus' remark.

Vatican daily Osservatore Romano said Lennon's comment, which sparked outrage in the mid-1960s, ''today just sounds like a quip from an English working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success after growing up with the Elvis myth''.

In the article, marking the 40th anniversary of the famous White Album, Vatican music critics said ''snobs'' might dismiss the Fab Four but ''the talent of Lennon and the other Beatles gave us some of the best pages in modern pop music''.

The critics said: ''38 years after the band split up, the Lennon-McCartney songs have shown an extraordinary resistance to the effects of time, providing inspiration for several generations of pop musicians''.

Osservatore Romano made its peace with Elvis in July.

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

Lennon made his comment on March 4, 1966, to London's Evening Standard.

''Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink... We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me''.

The response was immediate. Christians, especially in the American South, made huge pyres of Beatles albums and Protestant pastors threatened fans with excommunications - though the Vatican did not comment.

Elvis fans had been threatened with excommunication by Protestant churches a decade earlier.
 

Actor Brian Dennehy will record the voice over for the documentary film "Via Papale: The Lost Road of the Popes."


Los Angeles, CA (November 8, 2008) - Veteran actor Brian Dennehy will be recording the voice over for "Via Papale: The Lost Road of the Popes." The documentary film, slated for a 2009 release, is the first high definition film ever shot in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Dennehy, who has done previous voice over work, was drawn to this particular project because of its production value which he called "pretty extraordinary." The high definition technology adds so much to the viewing experience that he believes it could even visually surpass visiting the papal architecture in person. "It allows the possibility of seeing these works of art in a way they aren't usually seen." He was intrigued by the opportunity of high definition technology to show these works in a new light before they one day crumble or disappear. In his words, "Why not now?"

"Via Papale: The Lost Road of the Popes" is the untold story of the "lost" road on which 16th century Rome and its Church made the most profound urban and religious comeback in history. The film follows six powerful popes and their dynasties as they take on the task of first rebuilding, then glorifying, the new Rome. "Via Papale" unfolds the miracle of this remarkable renaissance, showing how Rome and its papal rulers not only survived, but were inspired by a holy road. Long since forgotten, the Via Papale was the papal processional route along which newly elected popes would process. It is along this road that were built the magnificent monuments, churches, art and architecture that define the city's skyline.

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