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A Column of Catholic Orientation
The Vatican Embraces the Revolution,
Once Again
Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.
When I mentioned to my friend Jan that the Vatican organ L’Osservatore Romano had again praised the Beatles, this time quite extravagantly, she was nonchalant. “Yes, I heard about it,” she said. “Don’t you realize it was just an attempt to divert attention from the sexual scandal that has reached Pope Benedict? It really is nothing that tragic.”
I disagree with her dismissive attitude, and find the eulogy made by the Vatican newspaper highly significant.
‘Their melodies live on like precious jewels’
In its April 10, 2010 issue, the influential Vatican organ dedicated two articles and a cartoon on its front page to praise the Beatles. The drawing showed the crosswalk on the Abbey Road cover, the last album before their breakup 40 years ago on April 10, 1970.
Vatican paper honors Beatles' Abbey Road album |
The Vatican paper reads, "It's true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives." It continues: "In a fit of bravado, they even said they were more famous than Jesus and had fun putting out mysterious messages that were possibly even Satanic.” Yes, it admits, “they may not have been the best example for the youth of the time, but they were by no means the worst…”
Today, as we listen to their songs, the article continues, these points of controversy “seem distant and meaningless.” Forty years after their turbulent breakup, “their beautiful melodies, which forever changed pop music and still move our emotions, live on like precious jewels."
The idolization continue as authors Guiseppe Fiorentino and Gaetano Vallini wonder what other great rock songs the Beatles might have made had they stayed together. They were the first band to “give dignity” to rock, they claim. The Beatles became idols of a generation “that was eager to break free from the narrow confines of a culture that was too traditional and oppressive, especially its music.” Their music was “a breath of fresh air in a frozen landscape, except for a few timid leaps forward.”
The Beatles were initiated in Hinduism by guru Maharishi |
The band actually represented a break of barriers in music similar to what Vatican II did in the Church. The Beatles razed the bastions of tradition and opened the music world to novel ideas, such as Buddhism and Satanism. Likewise, Vatican II let the Church break free from “oppressive” doctrine and let some “fresh air” into the Church, as John XXIII himself announced. We understand how those who praise the Council would also view the Beatles kindly.
The article closes, acclaiming their revolutionary role in culture: “The Beatles were the symbol of revolution of a generation under the banner of rock.” They were the first of a bold new wave that “others would ride with different looks, raising more ire.” Here is a feeble criticism of the hard metal and openly satanic groups that would follow. According to the newspaper, the Beatles’ Abbey Road and the group's subsequent break-up marked the "end of an era" that had been captured musically by the “four boys from Liverpool” – who aptly expressed “the signs of the time.”
Embracing the rock music of the modern world
Considering that L’Osservatore Romano, as everyone knows, is under the Pope’s supervision, the fact that it published a new tribute to rock culture is not accidental.
This new praise of the Beatles serves to show how mistaken those conservatives were who were quick to assert that the Pope was unaware of the first eulogy of the rock group. As you may recall, in November 2008, the paper lauded the White Album and forgave John Lennon for saying The Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ.
If Benedict XVI had disapproved of that first article which attracted much media attention, a simple word from him – who personally appointed this editor – could have stopped any further sanction of the modern culture. Instead, the Vatican paper continued on that path: In June 2009 it praised Michael Jackson, singling out his album Thriller for its originality. In February of 2010, it published a list of “Top 10 Rock Albums of All Times” (which included Beatles' hit 'Revolver') - another favorable nod to the music spawned by the Cultural Revolution.
The Beatles' music was part of the hippy revolution, calling for an end to all inhibitions |
Now, for the third time, it makes a fawning tribute to the Beatles, playing down their involvement with Satanism, addiction to drugs, and dissolute lives. Why is the Vatican organ making light of these grave matters? In order to exalt the revolution they made in music. That is, their praise of the ensemble is even worse than minimizing the evil of the parts. We have the Vatican promoting Revolution in culture, the opposite of the Catholic ideal.
The Conciliar Church, which should fight the revolt, extravagance, vulgarity and immorality of rock music and the culture it generated, instead rubber-stamps it. It is another embrace of the modern world, something very symbolic. One could surmise that its open approval of Satanism is not far down the road...
For Jan to explain that L’Osservatore Romano was simply diverting attention away from the pedophile priest cover-up is no justification for the endorsement of rock music. To the one crime of deceit is added another, supporting the revolutionary music that opened the door to free love and egalitarian customs.
The inertia of the good
A side point in this story is the reaction displayed by my friend Jan. Instead of responding vigorously to its outrageous promotion of the Beatles and rock culture – a music she always fought when her children were teens – she shrugs her shoulders. That the Vatican paper should praise rock music would have infuriated her once. Today she barely raises an eyebrow.
Vampires are being promoted by Hollywood and the media - and accepted without a reaction |
Unfortunately, she is not the only one. Catholics are seeing the most absurd things take place around them, and they hardly react. A kind of moral inertia, a deep lethargy regarding good and evil has been instilled in their souls, a state where persons have lost their will and the use of reason. Everything hangs in the air, and no one is willing to make a judgment.
The only thing that can still annoy those persons is to have someone try to make them wake up and react against evil. Clearly, this state of spirit necessarily ends by accepting every kind of evil.
With each day that passes, what is ugly, morally corrupt and wrong meets a public that is more and more inert in face of modern perversities. It does not take too much intelligence to conclude that shortly they will be accepting Satanism as well. Perhaps, led by L’Osservatore Romano, this will be a future tactic to divert attention from another wave of scandals in the Vatican …
It seems that the Revolution is prepared to advance to its final end, unless we see the promised intervention of Our Lady in an extraordinary way.
Posted on May 3, 2010
Related Topics of Interest
The Vatican’s Praise of Michael Jackson
Vatican Recommends Michael Jackson
Vatican Approves John Lennon: An Ill-Timed Act
John Lennon, Prophet of the Devil
Lennon's Pact with Satan
Why Are these Teens Screaming?
The Material Man vs. the Spiritual Man
The Rock Priest
The High Moral Damage of Rock Music
WYD at Cologne: No Sign that the Tide Has Turned
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