Elton John speaks up against the Vatican as they refuse to bless gay marriages

English singer-songwriter Elton John took to Twitter on late Monday, March 16, 2021, to speak out against the Vatican after they released a statement saying that same-sex marriages would not be blessed by the Catholic Church. Elton John also called the entire thing ‘hypocrisy’. The post shared by the singer went on to receive several likes, comments and retweets from netizens.

The Vatican's orthodoxy office responded on Monday to a query about whether Catholic clergy members should bless gay marriages. Their declaration, which Pope Francis accepted, confirmed that God "cannot bless a sin," but that the Catholic Church continues to accept LGBTQ+ people.

John reacted on Twitter, resurfacing the 2019 allegation that the Vatican assisted in the financing of John's biopic "Rocketman," which focuses on his marriage to David Furnish. He wrote, “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??” The singer also added the hashtag “hypocrisy”. Take a look at the post below.

Netizens react

On seeing this tweet, fans went on to flood the comment section with many messages and notes supporting the singer. One of the users wrote, “Right? It’s sad”. Another one wrote, “Dear Elton this was a nice one”. Take a look at a few tweets below.

“It is not licit to impart a blessing on a relationship outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of unions between individuals of the same sex,” the Vatican said in a statement. They mention "homosexual inclinations" and state they oppose accepting and promoting "an option and a way of life that cannot be objectively ordered to God's revealed plans." According to them, God "does not and cannot bless sin."

John Elton, who has been happily married to his husband, David Furnish, for nearly 30 years, had a problem with this. The Catholic Church was a supporter of the film Rocketman, which honours John's life, including his marriage to Furnish, and isn't afraid to reveal his sexuality'. The Vatican reportedly donated £850,000 to the film, which features gay scenes. This amounts to about 3% of the film's total budget. Furnish was also a producer of the film, and John was an executive producer. “Rocketman” cost about $40 million to make and grossed $195.2 million at the box office after its May 31, 2019 release.