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CRUCIFIED FROG (UPDATED) Aug-28-2008 (310 words) With photo. xxxi
Critic says pope protests sculpture of crucified frog
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has protested a sculptural portrayal of a crucified frog, saying it offends the religious sentiments of Christians, according to a critic of the work.
The sculpture, exhibited in a museum in the northern Italian city of Bolzano, prompted heated debate over the summer, when the pope was vacationing nearby. However, on Aug. 28 the museum directors met and decided it would not be removed.
A work of the late German artist Martin Kippenberger, it depicts a green frog nailed to the cross, holding a beer stein in one hand and an egg in the other. Its eyes are crossed and its tongue hangs out of its mouth.
Franz Pahl, a regional government official who has led a campaign to remove the work, told the Italian news agency ANSA Aug. 27 that he had received a letter of support from the Vatican Secretariat of State expressing the pope's sentiments.
According to Pahl, the letter said the pope believes the sculpture "has wounded the religious sentiment of the many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love and our salvation."
A Vatican source confirmed that a letter was sent, but did not confirm the contents.
Catholics first expressed outrage over the sculpture several months ago, when the work went on display at the Museion Foundation. Bishop Wilhelm Egger of Bolzano-Bressanone, who died in August, said in May that, whatever the artist's intentions, the piece deeply offended Catholics.
Museum officials have defended the work, saying it was intended as a self-portrait showing the torment faced by the artist. The sculpture was made in 1990, and the artist, who was said to consider the frog his alter ego, created other variations on the same theme.
Kippenberger died in 1997 at the age of 44.
END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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