Elton John Questions Vatican Ruling On Same-Sex Couples

Elton John has weighed in on today's news from The Vatican where the Catholic Church says it won't bless same-sex unions, and Sir Elton has brought some interesting information with him.

Per The Associated Press, "The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions...The note distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions. It argued that such unions are not part of God’s plan and that any sacramental recognition of them could be confused with marriage."

This response, which was approved by Pope Francis, stated that God "...does not and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him."

In response to the statement from The Vatican, John took to social media and shared, "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's social media post was accompanied by a screenshot of a December 2019 story from The Daily Beast that details a report about The Vatican's finances.

The Daily Beast Correspondent-At-Large Barbie Latza Nadeau wrote, "But the most curious item on the report to come out so far is a $4.5 million expenditure recorded in February of this year related to finance for the 2019 films 'Men in Black: International' and Elton John’s rather steamy biopic 'Rocketman,' which portrays the entertainer’s drug problems and is the first studio movie to portray gay sex between men in an authentic way. While investing in mainstream entertainment is hardly sinful, the great contradiction is that the Catholic Church preaches to the devout that homosexuality is a sin."

As of publishing, there has been no further statement from The Vatican in response to Sir Elton's comments.