More popular than Jesus was "bigger than God", but reaction was minimal. In a 2008 article marking the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' double album "The Beatles" (also known as the "White Album"), the Vatican newspaper, "L'Osservatore Romano", issued the statement: In response to the statement, Starr said "Didn't the Vatican say we were possibly Satanic, and they've still forgiven us? I think the Vatican's got more to talk about than the Beatles." In its 14 April 2010 edition, "L'Osservatore Romano" responded to Starr's comments, stating that "John Lennon had no need of forgiveness from the Vatican, "L'Osservatore Romano" reprinted its 1966 article on
More popular than Jesus In 1963, the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, John A.T. Robinson, published a controversial but popular book, "Honest to God", urging the nation to reject traditional church teachings on morality and the concept of God as an "old man in the sky", and instead embrace a universal ethic of love. Bryan R. Wilson's 1966 text "Religion in Secular Society" explained that increasing secularisation led to British churches being abandoned. However, in the US, churches remained popular. Both McCartney and Harrison had been baptised in the Roman Catholic Church, but neither of them followed Christianity. At the start of Beatlemania, the group