Madonna 'confessions' not amusing Vatican and religious leaders

By M&C News Aug 3, 2006, 18:44 GMT

Madonna is currently catching hell from religious leaders for this crucifix "scene" from her Confessions tour © Photorazzi

E! Online reports that Rome's Catholic, Muslim and Jewish leaders have united to condemn Madonna's decision to stage a mock-crucifixion when she performs her Confessions Tour in the Italian capital on Sunday, adjacent to Vatican City.

The Kabbalah queen’s latest show has Madge wearing a fake crown of thorns and descending on a suspended, shiny cross as part of the performance.

Catholics priests in Italy have gone one further saying the act "comes close to blasphemy."

"It is disrespectful, in bad taste and provocative," Father Manfredo Leone from Rome's Santa Maria Liberatrice church said late on Wednesday about the star's latest stage stunt.

"Being raised on a cross with a crown of thorns like a modern Christ is absurd. Doing it in the cradle of Christianity comes close to blasphemy."

In a show of religious solidarity, Roman Muslim and Jewish leaders added their condemnation of the honorary British diva, recently being immortalized in front of Wembley Stadium in cement. 

"I think her idea is in the worst taste and she'd do better to go home," Mario Scialoja, head of Italy's Muslim League said.

Riccardo Pacifici, spokesman and vice president of the Roman Jewish community, added Madonna should have pulled the routine considering where she was performing -- a stadium a mile from the gates of Vatican City.

Madonna, an ex- Catholic, has frequently ticked off the Catholic Church.

There was the famous 1989 video for hit song "Like a Prayer," featuring burning crosses, statues with tears of blood and Madonna dancing with a black Jesus.

A Vatican group warned that her latest religious belief "Kabbalah," a mystical form of Judaism, was a potential threat to the Roman Catholic faithful in 2004.

Vanity Fair reports that the singer states her "good Italian genes" were the reason for her staying in shape.