Satirist suggests Pope will be buggered by demons in hell, is threatened with jail time
An Italian comedienne who said that Pope Benedict XVI would go to Hell and be tormented by homosexual demons is facing a prison term of up to five years. Addressing a Rome rally in July, Sabrina Guzzanti warmed up with a few gags about Silvio Berlusconi [...] But then she got religion, and after warning everyone that within 20 years Italian teachers would be vetted and chosen by the Vatican, she got to the punchline: "But then, within 20 years the Pope will be where he ought to be - in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils, and very active ones, not passive ones."
The joke may have gone done well with her crowd on the Piazza Navona in Rome, but not with Italian prosecutors. She is facing prosecution for "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Benedict XVI.
From the Times Online.
I'm interested to see if there will be any sort of outcry. To their credit, some Catholics are not pleased at the charge, although I'd be more grateful to Father Bartolomeo Sorge if he didn't have to throw in a little whiny sanctimony: "We Christians put up with many insults, it is part of being a Christian, as is forgiveness. I feel sure the Pope has already forgiven those who insulted him on Piazza Navona."
The issue here is not forgiveness, it's freedom of speech, and the idea that no one should suffer 5 years in prison for one tasteless joke. But, anyway, nice of him to say so.
Others are rallying to her cause, including the worthy Dario Fo: Dario Fo, the Nobel prize-winning playwright, said that applying the treaty* more widely would even have led to the prosecution of Dante, since "he put a Pope in the Inferno as well, namely Boniface VIII".
What do you think, will Ratzinger be in an indulgent mood toward such modern frivolities as freedom of speech and call off this idiocy?
x-posted, kinda (why do people say this at the end of posts? I never understand why anyone would care whether something was cross-posted or not)
*The Lateran Treaty between the Vatican and Italy, that is, which stipulates a penalty for insulting the Pope. It was signed in 1929, so you can guess that it is a remnant of an enlightened and humane era.
The joke may have gone done well with her crowd on the Piazza Navona in Rome, but not with Italian prosecutors. She is facing prosecution for "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Benedict XVI.
From the Times Online.
I'm interested to see if there will be any sort of outcry. To their credit, some Catholics are not pleased at the charge, although I'd be more grateful to Father Bartolomeo Sorge if he didn't have to throw in a little whiny sanctimony: "We Christians put up with many insults, it is part of being a Christian, as is forgiveness. I feel sure the Pope has already forgiven those who insulted him on Piazza Navona."
The issue here is not forgiveness, it's freedom of speech, and the idea that no one should suffer 5 years in prison for one tasteless joke. But, anyway, nice of him to say so.
Others are rallying to her cause, including the worthy Dario Fo: Dario Fo, the Nobel prize-winning playwright, said that applying the treaty* more widely would even have led to the prosecution of Dante, since "he put a Pope in the Inferno as well, namely Boniface VIII".
What do you think, will Ratzinger be in an indulgent mood toward such modern frivolities as freedom of speech and call off this idiocy?
x-posted, kinda (why do people say this at the end of posts? I never understand why anyone would care whether something was cross-posted or not)
*The Lateran Treaty between the Vatican and Italy, that is, which stipulates a penalty for insulting the Pope. It was signed in 1929, so you can guess that it is a remnant of an enlightened and humane era.