Elton John has named Pope Francis his
hero.
According to the AP, the 67-year-old
John praised Francis for his outreach to gays as he hosted his annual
AIDS benefit, “An Enduring Vision: A Benefit for the Elton John
AIDS Foundation,” Tuesday night in New York City.
John called Francis “my hero” for
pushing boundaries in the Catholic church.
“Make this man a saint now, OK?” he
told the crowd.
After Catholic bishops scrapped
language welcoming gays to the Catholic faith in a draft report on
the family earlier this month, Francis told bishops, “God's not
afraid of new things.”
(Related: Pope
Francis after bishops drop welcome to gays: God's not afraid of new
things.)
On the red carpet, John
told the AP that the “end of the road is in sight” in the
fight against AIDS.
“What we need now is for people to
start taking that medicine, to step up to the plate and be a little
bit more responsible than they have been, and to say let's all end
this together, let's pull together, let's come out of the HIV closet,
let's not be ashamed of this, let's get tested and let's stop having
unsafe sex,” he said.