--- title: Elton John: The Pope Is 'Wonderful,' Jesus Would Support Gay Marriage description: He also wants to sit down with Putin canonical: https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-29T20:42:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:41:25.982Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Elton John: The Pope Is 'Wonderful,' Jesus Would Support Gay Marriage og:description: He also wants to sit down with Putin og:url: https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta22d3666b6c0691b/698699d8cd68484348095768/450701828.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 4 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elton John: The Pope Is 'Wonderful,' Jesus Would Support Gay Marriage twitter:description: He also wants to sit down with Putin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta22d3666b6c0691b/698699d8cd68484348095768/450701828.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elton John: Jesus Would Approve of Same-Sex Marriage  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 29, 2014 8:42 PM UTC  Elton John Elton JohnDouglas Mason—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 29, 2014 8:42 PM UTC Pop star Elton John [called the Pope “wonderful”](http://news.yahoo.com/pop-icon-elton-john-calls-pope-francis-wonderful-173457364.html) and said Jesus would approve of marriage equality in an interview on Sunday, [the same weekend gay-pride](http://time.com/2937684/gay-pride-2014-stonewall/) events occurred all over the world. Although Pope Francis does not support same-sex marriage, John praised the Pope’s attitude toward LGBT people as a sign of progress in an interview with Sky News, the AFP reports. “He’s excited me so much by his humanity and taking everything down to the humility of faith,” he said. “It’s all basically about love and taking everybody in inclusiveness.” The singer, who plans to marry longtime partner David Furnish, with whom he has two children, also said Jesus would approve of same-sex marriage, which became legal in England earlier this year. “If Jesus Christ was alive today, I cannot see him … saying this could not happen,” John said. “He was all about love and compassion and forgiveness and trying to bring people together, and that is what the church should be about.” John also said he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the country’s stance on gay rights after Putin said many Russians were fans of John “despite his orientation.” “As long as I’m alive, I will fight for people’s rights,” John said. \[[_AFP_](http://news.yahoo.com/pop-icon-elton-john-calls-pope-francis-wonderful-173457364.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/"},"headline":"Elton John: Jesus Would Approve of Same-Sex Marriage","datePublished":"2014-06-29T20:42:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:41:25.982Z","description":"He also wants to sit down with Putin","url":"https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/","keywords":["celebrities","Religion","Pope Francis topic","LGBT","faith","elton john"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta22d3666b6c0691b/698699d8cd68484348095768/450701828.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta22d3666b6c0691b/698699d8cd68484348095768/450701828.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 4","caption":"2014 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival - Day 4","creditText":"Douglas Mason—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2938347/elton-john-pope-francis-jesus-gay-marriage/","name":"Elton John: Jesus Would Approve of Same-Sex Marriage"}}]}] ```