Tag Archive: Catholic Church


Spotlight on the case. Holy shit! Hold the front page!

Filed under: Movies, Politics — Leave a comment
March 13, 2016

SPOTLIGHT directed by Tom McCarthy (USA, 2015)

 oscarometro2016spotlightHoly shit! Never has this exclamation carried more significance.

Based on actual events (isn’t everything?), the shit uncovered by the Spotlight team of fearless reporters of the Boston Globe at the turn of the Millennium indeed had the holiest of stenches.

The Roman Catholic priests in Boston who molested and abused young boys and girls turned out the be the tip of a dung heap of global proportions. As the credits roll, the printed list of subsequent cases found in parishes around the world is enough to make Jesus and the rest of us mere mortals weep.

Anything which widens the scope of the negative publicity against the hypocritical church establishment is welcome but I doubt that the Pope is quaking in his satin slippers after seeing this lackluster movie. In toning down the sensationalist elements of the story, it becomes more of a celebration of investigative journalism than a full-blooded indictment of this holy disorder. Continue reading →

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PULLING A FAST ONE ON THE ROAD TO SAINTHOOD

Filed under: Atheism, Fiction — Leave a comment
July 5, 2013

One of the reasons why the Catholic Church remains such a powerful force is that it is beyond ridicule.

The fast-track sanctification of John Paul II is a case in point.

The two ‘miracles’ attributed to him are so absurd and beg so many questions it’s hard to know where to start.

A miracle is defined as “an effect of nature not attributable to any of the operations of nature nor to the act of man, but indicative of a superhuman power”.

Karol Wojtyla couldn’t have acted in human form to cure the two women – one of Parkinson’s disease and the other of cerebral aneurism – because he happened to be dead at the time.

Medics can’t explain why the French nun and woman from Costa Rica recovered. As they apparently had recently prayed to the ghost of the late Pope, this is deemed the only possible explanation for returning to full health. Yeah, right!

By this zany reasoning, anyone who inexplicably gets well without medical assistance is potentially the beneficiary of some form of supernatural intervention.

Continue reading →
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BUÑUEL AND THE ART OF BLASPHEMY

Filed under: Atheism, Italy, Movies — Leave a comment
July 5, 2012

VIRIDIANA directed by Luis Buñuel (Mexico/Spain, 1961)

Perhaps I should temporarily rename this blog ‘Buñuel My Soul’ as I’m currently immersed in the movie back catalogue of the great Spanish director.

Some of these I am watching for a second time but Viridiana is a new discovery.

As with many of his movies it has been widely branded as obscene and sacrilegious; accusations which Buñuel  would have regarded as compliments.

When it was first shown in Milan, the public prosecutor closed the cinema, impounded the reels and Buñuel was sentenced in absentia to one year in jail if he ever set foot in Italy.

Buñuel claimed disingenuously that he didn’t know what the fuss was about; wryly conceding that the Pope probably knew more about blasphemy than he did. Continue reading →

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ADRIANO CELENTANO : THE SANREMO EFFECT

Filed under: Italy, Music, Politics, Television — 9 Comments
February 16, 2012

Sanremo music festival is an Italian institution and also a big money spinner for the publicity and sponsorship deals it generates.

To maintain this income it needs to attract a high share of viewers. Anything less than 40% of the total audience is regarded as a failure.

Enter singer, songwriter and self-appointed spokesman for the oppressed, Adriano Celentano. Now aged 73, he is another Italian institution who has cultivated an image of a poet/guru who casts a worldly-wise eye on the state of the planet and humankind. Recently his TV appearances have become rarer and are always orchestrated and hyped.

This year he was paid an arm and a leg by Rai TV to make a special guest appearance on the first night at Sanremo.  The content of this slot was shrouded in secrecy to raise expectations that he would deliver something memorable.

Almost 50% of viewers tuned in which means that he achieved what Rai wanted. The controversy he caused was entirely predictable and the managers of the TV network are feigning shock and embarrassment at his comments directed at the Catholic church.

During the course of a rambling 50 minute section of music and monologues, Celentano expressed the opinion that Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana were useless, hypocritical journals which  should be shut down because they talk only of politics and not of religious ideas. Not surprisingly the Vatican are not amused.

Despite appearances to the contrary, Celentano is no fool. He was deliberately provocative to get a reaction but he chose fairly soft targets rather than strike at bigger issues like the Catholic  church’s policies on issues like family planning, AIDs and pedophile priests. It is revealing, and mildly amusing,  that his mild criticism should have such a big effect but this whole affair amounts to nothing more than cynically planned storm in a teacup.

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BANKSY’S CARDINAL SIN

Filed under: Music — Leave a comment
December 16, 2011

If I were a curator of an art gallery I would be very wary if a man claiming to be Banksy phoned to say he wanted to donate an exhibit.

The first question would be: is this a hoax? Then, if it could be established that this really was the enigmatic street artist, I would want to be reassured that the gallery wasn’t being taken for a ride. Banksy’s recent film for Channel 4, Antics Roadshow, showed that he is an admirer of pranks and anarchic publicity stunts designed to show up establishment figures and ‘straight’ institutions.

I’m sure there were plenty of behind the scenes debates surrounding Banksy’s adapted sculpture entitled Cardinal Sin but, to their credit, Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery have agreed to display the piece alongside 17th century religious art and ride out the possible backlash.

In comments to the press, gallery representatives have adopted an objective stance over the issue of child abuse that lies behind the artwork.  Reyahn King, director of art galleries at National Museums in Liverpool states merely that: “it is part of an artistic tradition to show art that challenges people”.

Secretly though, I am convinced that they actually endorse Banksy’s critique of the Roman Catholic Church. The bust makes a powerful image which symbolises the church’s reluctance to name and shame its paedophile priests.

Instead of the Cardinal’s face, we see only small bathroom tiles which make it resemble the type of pixelated image you see on the evening news when there is a need to protect a person’s identity e.g. kids of movie stars, suspected criminals, rape victims etc.

The point Banksy is making is that high ranking church officials who are guilty of sin can remain anonymous even though they are not vulnerable, innocent or deserving of official protection. In this way he is highlighting the fallibility and culpability of the papacy. As Banksy says: “At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse”.

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