A Bishop cherishes blasphemy - and now he may go to the Roman Curia? [UPDATE] Bishop condemns play

[Updated - see end of post.]


A couple of months ago, we mentioned the brave stance of some young French Catholics in defense of the honor of Our Lord:

Each day of this past week has seen a resurgence of hundreds of traditionalist youth using all means, short of violence, to upset the play of Romeo Castellucci (called On the Concept of the Face of the Son of God). It presents an old man whose feces are spread over a huge portrait of Christ. This portrait becomes the target of grenades thrown by children whose last message is “You are not my shepherd.”

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All in all, the feces lovers’ feast turned out a flop.

The blasphemous play by Castellucci is coming to his nation, Italy, where it will be staged in Milan in late January. However, already in November, as a response to the brave attitude of the Catholics of France, the Archbishop of Oristano (Sardinia, Italy), Ignazio Sanna, did not actually see anything bad in the blasphemous work of Castelucci - he actually praised its intent:

Even if the actors of the play "On the Concept of the Face of the Son of God" turn to the majestic image of Christ by Antonello da Messina with the sorrowful question, "Why have you forsaken me?", its director [Castellucci] stresses that, "we are nourished by the image of Christ." [November 2, 2011. Source and tip: Francesco Colafemmina. These words by Castellucci are not in his play, but were rather pronounced by him in an interview published by Italian secular daily La Repubblica at the time of the Paris protests, in which he also said that he would not "retreat before the obscurantists."]

No, Your Excellency: they throw feces and grenades on the Holy Face. They proclaim that "He is not their shepherd". Could you at least acknowledge that?

Now, what will Archbishop Sanna get in return for his support and disingenuous defense of blasphemy? According to yesterday's edition of local newspaper La Nuova Sardegna, he could be named the next Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) or of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Could it be true? A man like him is just what the Roman Curia needs!...

P.S. La Nuova Sardegna is also one of several Italian sources mentioning the possible nomination of Cardinal Amato, current Prefect of Saints and former Secretary of CDF as the more probable replacement of Cardinal Levada as Prefect of CDF.

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[Update (Jan 12, 0200 GMT):] In an e-mail message sent to Francesco Colafemmina, Archbishop Ignazio Sanna denies any attempt to cherish the work, and condemns it explicitly, saying he merely used the words of the interview. In a text with what is probably in reference to Colafemmina's great Fides et Forma blog, the Archdiocesan press office states the following:

"Solidarity to the Archbishop for the indecent attack, through the web, by a Traditionalist blog:
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In order to erase, in any event, any sign of misinterpretation, the Archbishop declares that he openly and decisively condemns every theatrical representation that violates the image of Jesus and wounds the sensibility of the faithful. ...""