Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The Case of the Penis and the Pope


This story you might have missed becasue it took place over seas but I had to write about it.

It seems that Pope Benedict XVI was to visit the predominantly Catholic Malta, and it seems that there is a statue that he would have passed that resembles a large penis.

In January 2006 sculptor Paul Vella Critien erected a statue "The Colonna Mediterranea", or Mediterranean Column. It was installed on a traffic circle at the entrance to the village of Luqa. He said the statue was of an ancient Egyptian symbol.

The sculpture, which mayor John Schembri described as "obscene" and "embarrassing", should be removed "as a sign of respect" for Pope Benedict XVI, he said.

Similar works by Critien have been erected in Germany, Italy and Australia. OK, sorry erected is the only good word to use and it is funny.

I do agree that the sculpture is in poor taste but to remove it becasue the Pope was visiting is also artistic censorship.

I think that the mayor wanted it removed not becasue the Pope might see it and get offended but becasue the reason for the Pope's visit was to set up a "response team" after the Maltese Catholic Church in 1999 had received allegations against 45 priests of pedophilia. So a large erect penis in the middle of town just wouldn't do.
You know the whole worshiping false idols thing is against the Catholic religion!

The Pope's visit was earlier this month but I haven't been able to find out if the statue was actually taken down. If you have the answer to this I'd love to know.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I`m from Malta and it has not been removed. it is still there looking as sexy as ever :P