Art is a very subjective thing.
What is offensive to one person might be beautiful to another.
This is why there must be strict rules around what is displayed in Catholic churches, there needs to be a general consensus that the art is at least not offensive and ideally inspires prayer in others and allows them to contemplate the wonder of God.
Neither recommendation seems to have been on the cards in Austria for a recent display of Our Lady.
The statue showed Our Lady giving birth, looking in incredible pain and in quite graphic detail, in Linz Cathedral.
Now, a non Catholic may ask themselves what is so bad about showing childbirth which is supposed to be celebrated by Catholics?
But, it is literally against Catholic teaching to assert that this was the nature of Christ’s birth, painful and graphic.
It might seem like a small detail if you are not Catholic, but it is an important detail regarding Christ’s divinity.
Despite every possible warning that the public were unhappy with the statue, staff at Linz Cathedral persisted in keeping it on display. It has been beheaded with a saw since.
Read the full story here.
