Belgian Catholics force cancellation of blasphemous play about Virgin Mary after protests

(LifeSiteNews) — A blasphemous theater play in Belgium has been cancelled after massive protests from faithful Catholics.

A theatrical production about the Virgin Mary was scheduled to take place on March 27 in Havelange, Belgium. The event titled “Madonna (non) grata” was cancelled after Catholics protested against the sacrilegious and anti-Catholic contents of the play.

The local cultural center which was meant to host the play announced the event with the following slogan: “A creation on the border between the divine and the human; virgin and whore, holy and mortal.”

It went on to say: “Enclosed in her altar for an eternity, she is called the Morning Star, the Immaculate Conception, the Queen without Original Sin,” and adding, “She is sick, her flesh is decaying, yet she is immortal.”

The Catholic news outlet Cathobel published a letter of protest from outraged Catholics and an op-ed by Marguerite-Marie Verbeke, who denounced the event as “blasphemous” and a serious offense against the Christian faith.

A debate on social media about artistic freedom ensued. The German news outlet Spiegel cited proponents of the blasphemous play who called people who protested it “Catholic traditionalist haters” who would “trample on dialogue and democracy.”

When a blasphemous, state-funded art exhibition took place in Vienna, Austria, in December last year, the president of the Christian organization “Christenschutz” said the exhibition is a “targeted, tasteless denigration of the sacred” and noted that these mocking displays would never be done in the context of Islam or Judaism and asked why Christianity is considered “fair game” for obscenities.

The cultural center said that it wanted to invite “dialogue” with its provocative depiction of the Blessed Mother and that it did not intend to attack the Catholic faith. It complained about alleged “threats” and “intolerance and intimidation” it received, but provided no evidence to back up the allegations. The theater group ultimately decided to cancel the event because it believed dialogue with its critics was impossible.