It's hardly news that the Catholic church are opposed to gay marriage - but a new decree from the Vatican, which doubles down on their stance, has angered many.
One of them is Elton John, who revealed that that Church actually invested in his 2019 biopic 'Rocketman' (rather bizarrely, the Church has invested in various other big budget movies - including 'Men in Black: International' the same year.)
The new decree, issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says that blessings for same-sex marriages “cannot be considered licit", even though the Christian community is encouraged to "welcome with respect and sensitivity persons with homosexual inclinations."
It also states that "God does not and cannot bless sin", adding: "He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow him to be changed by him."
The decree led the musician - whose warts-and-all life was depicted in the biopic, which starred Taron Egerton - to take to Twitter to condemn their hypocritical stance. “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?," he said.
The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that the Church had "a $4.5 million expenditure recorded in February 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.”
The film was made for $40 million and grossed $192 million worldwide - making a nice return for its various investors.
