Catholic group rails against 'sexualized and effeminate' depiction of Jesus in Spain

Institute of Social Policy blast artwork as an 'abomination'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 30, 2024

A Catholic group in Spain expressed outrage regarding a "sexualized and effeminate" depiction of Jesus Christ that is being used to promote Easter week in Seville.

The artwork, which was designed by Seville artist Salustiano Garcia, shows a thin, semi-nude Jesus in front of a red background with His grave linens suggestively placed over his genitals after His resurrection.

Spanish celebrations of Holy Week feature prominently in the historically Catholic country, especially in Seville.

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According to the Council of Brotherhoods and Guilds, which organizes Holy Week events in the city, the depiction shows "the radiant side of Holy Week" in the "purest style of this prestigious painter," according to The Daily Mail.

The Institute of Social Policy (IPSE), a conservative Catholic group, disagreed, denouncing the painting as a "sexualized" and "effeminate" portrayal of Jesus, according to a post by the group on X.

Este cartel es una verdadera aberración.

? Un Cristo sexualizado y amanerado

Desde el Instituto de Política Social (IPSE), consideramos una ofensa grave este cartel que descontextualiza completamente el verdadero significado de la #SemanaSanta.

Exigimos su retirada isofacta pic.twitter.com/6amhDQX3E5

— Instituto de Politica Social (@IPS_Esp) January 27, 2024

"We consider this poster a serious offense that completely decontextualizes the true meaning of [Holy Week]," the group wrote. "We demand its [immediate] removal."

The group also described the painting using the Spanish word "aberración," a strong word that can be translated into English as "outrage" or "abomination."

Other conservatives in Spain railed against the portrayal, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Javier Navarro, a member of Spain's conservative Vox Party, claimed in an X post that the portrayal "sought to provoke" and failed in its purported aim of "encouraging the faithful to participate in Holy Week in Seville," according to AFP.

Garcia defended his artwork to Spanish newspaper ABC as a "gentle, elegant and beautiful" depiction of Christ that was based on his own son and fashioned with "great respect."

"To see sexuality in my image of Christ, you must be mad," he said, suggesting that there was nothing in that piece that couldn't be found in other artistic depictions of Jesus going back centuries.

Juan Espadas, a politician with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, also defended the artwork, claiming it exhibited a combination of "tradition and modernity," according to AFP.

Controversy similarly erupted last year over an artistic display by Swedish artist Elisabeth Ohlson in the European Parliament that showed Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount while accompanied by homosexual men dressed in leather attire associated with BDSM fetishism.

MEPs from Italy, Spain and Poland denounced the artwork, which was displayed in a restricted area of the E.U. Parliament building, as disrespectful and blasphemous.

Italian MEP Maria told The Times (U.K.) that it "represents Jesus surrounded by apostles dressed as sadomasochistic slaves."

Jorge Buxadé, also a member of Spain’s Vox party, accused the European Parliament at the time of giving a platform for the “LGTBIQ+ lobby” with the complicity of leftist parties.