Elton John calls out Catholic Church for refusing to bless same-sex unions after investing in his biopic
The Catholic Church recently said that it does not have and cannot have the power to bless same-sex unions. And Elton John isn’t having any of that.
To recall: the Church said it does not have the power to bless same-sex unions in a statement released on Monday, March 15. ““The blessing would manifest not the intention to entrust such individual persons to the protection and help of God but to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God,” the Vatican explained in a statement.
The statement further stressed that while God continues to bless His children as He believes “we are more important to God than all of the sins that we may commit,” the Church said He “does not and cannot bless sin.”
The British singer-songwriter, in a tweet on Tuesday, March 16, criticized the Catholic Church after the release of their statement on same-sex unions.
The Tiny Dancer singer said the statement is hypocritical as the Church invested in the 2019 film Rocketman.
Rocketman is a biographical film based on the life of Elton John. The film tackles John’s homosexuality. It earned over $195 million in the global box office.
John married his long-term partner David Furnish in 2014.
"How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they 'are sin', yet happily make a profit from investing millions in Rocketman - a film which celebrates my finding happiness from my marriage to David?? #hypocrisy,” John tweeted.
How can the Vatican refuse to bless gay marriages because they “are sin”, yet happily make a profit from investing millions in “Rocketman” - a film which celebrates my finding happiness from my marriage to David?? #hypocrisy@VaticanNews @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/sURtrWB6Nd
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) March 15, 2021
In a statement sent to the BBC, John’s spokesperson said regarding the singer’s tweet: “Their (the Vatican’s) investment has been widely reported in many credible news outlets including the Financial Times. Aside from that, we are not able to comment any further."
John’s tweet came as a surprise to many who didn’t know that the Catholic Church made investments on movies, among other things.
John’s tweet contains a screencap of an article headline from the Daily Beast titled, “How the Vatican Spent Millions on Elton John’s Biopic.”
The article reports that the Italian newspaper Corriera Della Sera uncovered investments financed by the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. The BBC describes the Secretariat of State as “one of the most powerful departments of the Vatican,” which oversees “everything from Church administration to the Vatican's diplomatic affairs,” including financial affairs.
The Daily Beast article said that based on the Corriere Della Sera report, more than $4 million “went to finance the production of films” such as Rocketman and Men in Black.
Out of the $4 million, around $1 million was invested in Rocketman.
A 2020 article in the Financial Times said it saw documents showing the Vatican had invested in Rocketman. As the BBC reports, it is unclear if Pope Francis knew about this.