A Catholic group is calling for a film about a lesbian nun to be banned.
Benedetta, which is set to be released on Friday 15 April, centres on Sister Benedetta Carlini, who lived at the Abbess of the Theatine convent in Pescia in the 1600s.
In the French language film, she and another nun become involved romantically with one another, with their affair eventually discovered by the church.
Sister Benedetta also appears to show signs of the stigmata - the same wounds Jesus suffered when he was crucified.
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It is loosely based on the book Immodest Acts: The Life Of A Lesbian Nun In Renaissance Italy by Judith C Brown, a non-fiction book which was released in 1986.
However, it has now been slammed by the Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, which has set up a petition to have its release pulled.
The group has branded the film 'immoral' and an 'offence to God'.
Not only that, but the release date itself - Good Friday - has also been cited as evidence of its 'blasphemy'.
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"In a shocking attack on Good Friday, film company MUBI will launch Benedetta across Ireland and the UK, a film which horribly insults Our Lady and her Son," the petition reads.
It goes on: "I strongly oppose and condemn your distribution and promotion of Paul Verhoeven’s film Benedetta. It offends God, and countless Catholics all over the world. This immoral film blasphemously features:
• several Jesus-on-nun intense ‘make outs’
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• a statuette of Mary Most Holy used as a sex-toy
• voyeuristic lesbian nuns’ 'pornography'
• reviews describe it as 'blasphemy', 'anti-Catholic', 'pornograph', and 'Nunsploitation'
"Promote virtue, not vice!"
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Speaking about the film, Damien Murphy, a spokesman for the Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, told the Belfast Telegraph: "This movie is a fraud and nothing more than a blatant attack on the Catholic faith.
"To launch this film on Good Friday is a calculated insult to Christians everywhere. And shame on the Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast for permitting this showing at any time, but especially on this highly significant religious occasion."
Despite having effectively been banned in Singapore and subject to protests by Catholic groups following a screening at New York Film Festival in 2021, Benedetta has received rave reviews.
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Critics on Rotten Tomatoes have given it a score of 85 percent, which is pretty impressive.
One reviewer wrote: "A funny, filthy, iconoclastic riot. Paul Verhoeven’s latest erotic satire won’t be for all creeds, but it is bursting with enough ideas that even doubters can find something to believe in here."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]
Dominic Smithers