Feminist Group Crashes German Christmas Service With Topless 'I Am God' Protest on Altar
The feminist group FEMEN crashed a Christmas service at the High Cathedral of St. Peter in Cologne, Germany, with a topless activist getting up on the altar exposing herself to the congregation with the words "I am God" written on her body.
The activist group, which says that it is based on "sextremism, atheism and feminism," was apparently trying to protest against patriarchy and the Vatican's pro-life views. According to EuroNews.com, the woman was identified as 20-year-old philosophy student Josephine Witt.
The incident, which has been captured on video, shows her running onto the altar in front of the large congregation, but clerics quickly surround her, cover her up and take her away.
FEMEN, which was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Paris, France, often participates in topless protests aimed at "fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations – sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion." It demands "that the old people in the Vatican and their fanatical adepts bring their religious dogmas into compliance with the modern world and human rights."
A Catholic church in San Juan, Argentina, was also targeted by topless women who were part of a pro-abortion group.
In that incident, the feminists surrounded the local cathedral and its members standing outside, and proceeded to sexually molest, spit on, spray paint and wrap their underwear around the faces of Catholic men standing together in prayer. The attack concluded with the burning of an effigy of Pope Francis.
The Roman Catholic Church has long been a champion for the rights of unborn children, and states that abortion is a sin. Pope Francis has also spoken out at length in defense of unborn children, most recently in his lengthy "apostolic exhortation" document, where he insisted that the "defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right."
"It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development," he stressed. "Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems."