Artist protests condom ban with Virgin Mary stunt
-23/12/05
A British artist has provok
Artist protests condom ban with Virgin Mary stunt
-23/12/05
A British artist has provoked waves of condemnation throughout the Catholic world for promoting a statue of the Virgin Mary clothed in a condom in a top US Jesuit weekly.
Steve Rosenthal offered readers of the paper ‘America’ the chance to buy “a stunning 22cm statue of the Virgin Mary standing atop a serpent, wearing a delicate veil of latex”.
The editor of the magazine has since refunded the 391 US dollars paid by the artist for the advert, which made plain the nature of what it was offering in both its text and the accompanying image.
Mr Rosenthal says that “the primary aim of the work is to highlight the Vatican’s continuing non-advocacy regarding the use of condoms.”
Official Catholic teaching opposes all methods of contraception, other than the rhythm method, because it says they are unnatural means of preventing conception, which is God’s gift.
Critics within the church, and in other Christian traditions, say that this is theologically and morally wrong – and in cases where exposure to AIDS is involved (especially in poor countries) contributes to suffering and death.
Recently several prominent Catholic leaders have questioned the inflexibility of the teaching, but Pope Benedict XVI is known to be implacable on the issue.
Vittorio Messori, a former literary collaborator of Pope John Paul II, has condemned Mr Rosenthal’s work on the front page of the Italian daily, Corriere dela Sera.
Artist protests condom ban with Virgin Mary stunt
-23/12/05
A British artist has provoked waves of condemnation throughout the Catholic world for promoting a statue of the Virgin Mary clothed in a condom in a top US Jesuit weekly.
Steve Rosenthal offered readers of the paper ‘America’ the chance to buy “a stunning 22cm statue of the Virgin Mary standing atop a serpent, wearing a delicate veil of latex”.
The editor of the magazine has since refunded the 391 US dollars paid by the artist for the advert, which made plain the nature of what it was offering in both its text and the accompanying image.
Mr Rosenthal says that “the primary aim of the work is to highlight the Vatican’s continuing non-advocacy regarding the use of condoms.”
Official Catholic teaching opposes all methods of contraception, other than the rhythm method, because it says they are unnatural means of preventing conception, which is God’s gift.
Critics within the church, and in other Christian traditions, say that this is theologically and morally wrong – and in cases where exposure to AIDS is involved (especially in poor countries) contributes to suffering and death.
Recently several prominent Catholic leaders have questioned the inflexibility of the teaching, but Pope Benedict XVI is known to be implacable on the issue.
Vittorio Messori, a former literary collaborator of Pope John Paul II, has condemned Mr Rosenthal’s work on the front page of the Italian daily, Corriere dela Sera.