It was a few years ago that there was quite a commotion because the (otherwise completely impeccable) pastor of Katzwang in Franconia allowed the Protestant community youth to take a nude photo for the annual calendar. The biblical Eve, only with a fig leaf in front of the high altar of his church.
Human nudity has always been such a thing. When nudity also meets religion, it becomes immensely complicated. In many religions, not only those of the West, by the way, the sexual area is a major problem area. Those who stay here too long, it is said, could soon become incapable of much more important tasks in life. Did church bans in the past centuries really help?
In any case, the dean of Toledo must have guessed what he was doing when he gave the keys to the Spanish cathedral he oversees to a film team in September last year. Dancing a little South American in the Gothic aisle, the Catholic clergyman may have thought, that can’t be wrong. Especially in the context of church youth work. (Unforgotten at this point is the completely uptight religion teacher T., who began his first lesson at a rural high school in western Germany in 1985: “Well, I think sex is great. And you?” The class took half an hour to get around get back.)
Dean Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche, in any case, allowed rapper C. Tangana and pop singer Nathy Peluso a lascivious one for her video, but harmless little dance in his medieval church.
Why not? “Don Camillo” with Fernandel was partly shot in a church. Of those later in that Music video “Ateo” (Atheist) Additionally inserted scenes with the naked (albeit unfortunately pixelated) singer Peluso, who is also holding Tangana’s severed head in the air, should not have been known to the dean. And what if it did! Isn’t it wonderful when the music business, which is often decried as something godless, revisits the biblical Salome story for the young audience? Toledo is also the capital of the Castile-La Mancha region, which has been known to everyone since Miguel de Cervantes at the latest. And people there are used to fighting against windmills.
But of course the Spanish press is now doing the same thing as it was in 2005 Nuremberg News. At the time when the pastor of Katzwang made his high altar available for the calendar shoot with Eva. At that time the press spokesman for the Munich Cardinal Wetter was quite expected to be beside himself, now it is not only the Archbishop of Toledo who, according to the newspaper, is who El Mundo sees the holy place polluted by “improper use”. The first rosary prayers have already taken place in front of the cathedral. Probably to drive out the demons.
People pray with candles in front of the cathedral.
(Photo: Angeles Visdómine / imago images / Agencia EFE)
The makers of the video, however, are likely to rub their hands. Naked things and religion have always worked well in terms of marketing strategy, from Madonna to George Michael to Grace Jones, Tomi Ungerer and Martin Kippenberger. And indeed: the dance video goes viral through the roof. Nobody is talking about the fantastic painter El Greco (1541-1614), who created “The Undressing of Christ” for Toledo, for example. Why also?
Dean Grenesche anyway, who now has to fear for his head because of the video, refers to the text of the song performed by Ms. Peluso: “I used to be an atheist, but now faith I, because a miracle like you must have come from heaven. “Exegetically, a revival experience is described here. Although it is not entirely clear what faith this heaven landing brings about in the singer. Is it the faith of John the Baptist? Or that of Salome ? In any case, the final scene of the video must be seen as eschatologically central, where two cheerful clergymen (one white, the other black and both happily dressed) are photographed next to a happy family in front of the church.
Well, it works!