Archdiocese repudiates the violent destruction of artwork that offended Christianity

The Social Pastoral Unit of Mendoza repudiated the destruction of the exhibition and reiterated its position that religious symbols "should not be violated, ridiculed or offended".

The Social Pastoral Unit of the Archdiocese of Mendoza repudiated the destruction of the artistic works exhibited in the rectorate of the National University of Cuyo, which were attacked by a group of about 60 people who entered the rectorate yesterday, to protest against the work "#8M Visual Manifestos", which exhibited different pieces, among which was the crucifixion of Jesus represented with the body of a naked woman and a vulva that simulated an image of the Virgin Mary.

The Pastoral Unit expressed its solidarity with the artists in a statement issued on Tuesday 21 March: "We repudiate this act of physical violence against the works of art exhibited there. We stand in solidarity with the artists, who saw the fruit of their work and effort affected".

And added: "We call once again for harmony and peace, which is lost in extremes, when we fail to see that behind a work of art or a religious symbol there are people who have beliefs or ideologies that should not be violated, ridiculed or offended".

"We regret the actions of people who live their religiosity as in dark times, which have been so painful for humanity," it said, and ended the statement by quoting the Preamble of the Argentine Constitution: "We invoke the protection of God, source of all reason and justice".

On Sunday 19 March, the same Pastoral Social Unit had expressed - in another communiqué - "sadness and pain" at the photographic exhibition on display in the Rectorate of the UNCuyo, which contained works that "seriously wounded our religious convictions" and those of "numerous people of the university community and the faithful in general, who have felt attacked and violated by this lack of respect for their faith".

"The exhibition, which provokes our sadness and indignation," they indicated in that first message of 19 March, "contains elements which, from a caricatural point of view, exercise symbolic violence on Christian religious symbols, not only Catholic, betraying the path we want to follow of respect and full respect for all human rights, including religious rights".

There, the Mendoza Pastoral Unit clarified that "we value art as a legitimate channel of communication of ideas, talents and feelings of the artist", and warned that "their freedom of expression will never be affected if they fully respect the convictions of others, including their feelings and religious beliefs".

The exhibition, which offended Christians in the middle of Lent, was also repudiated on social networks, and other institutions spoke out about it. In fact, in the UNCuyo itself, a petition was started to ask for the pieces to be removed. 

"The teachers gathered 800 signatures, but the largest number was gathered by the students themselves, which means that this rejection comes from the very foundations of the university," explained Mariana Calderón to the newspaper Los Andes.

Source