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Catholic Church here voices ‘grave concerns’ over Madonna concert

SINGAPORE — The Catholic Church here has made public its “grave concerns” over pop diva Madonna’s ‘Rebel Heart’ concert, about a week to the show.

US singer Madonna performs during the Rebel Heart World Tour in Macau, China, Feb 20, 2016. Photo: AP

US singer Madonna performs during the Rebel Heart World Tour in Macau, China, Feb 20, 2016. Photo: AP

SINGAPORE — The Catholic Church here has made public its “grave concerns” over pop diva Madonna’s ‘Rebel Heart’ concert, about a week to the show.

Noting the Catholic and other Christian communities here have expressed outrage and concerns, the Archdiocesan Communications Office said Archbishop William Goh “has made representations to various (government) ministries and statutory boards to communicate the Catholic Church’s grave concerns”.

The pop queen’s show and songs have been known to make use of religious imagery and symbols, something that the Church considers as blasphemous and insulting to the Christian faith.

In a statement posted on Saturday (Feb 20), the office said that in response, the authorities had assured “in various communiques with the Archbishop, both in writing and orally”, that restrictions have been placed to ensure that religiously offensive content that breaches guidelines would not be allowed on stage in Singapore, and “they have undertaken to exercise vigilance in seeing that the guidelines are not breached”.

Last month, the Media Development Authority (MDA) rated the concert R18 for its sexually suggestive content, and content or materials which offend any race or religion would not be allowed, like the song ‘Holy Water’.

Archbishop Goh, who is leader of Singapore’s Catholic Church, also reminded Catholic Christians of their moral obligation not to support “the ‘pseudo arts’ that promote sensuality, rebellion, disrespect, pornography, contamination of the mind of the young, abusive freedom, individualism at the expense of the common good, vulgarity, lies and half-truths”.

While the Catholic community appreciated the challenge of balancing freedom of the arts and public sensitivities, “in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore, we cannot afford to be overly permissive in favour of artistic expression at the expense of respect for one’s religion, especially in these times of heightened religious sensitivities, particularly among active practitioners of religions”, he said.

The concert will be held at the National Stadium this Sunday (Feb 28).

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