{"id":282174,"date":"2026-01-13T15:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282174\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T15:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T15:54:07","slug":"german-churchs-televised-slime-jesus-provokes-fury-on-right-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282174\/","title":{"rendered":"German church\u2019s televised \u2018slime Jesus\u2019 provokes fury on right | Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Roman Catholic diocese in Germany<\/a> has expressed regret over a televised Christmas Eve mass featuring a portrayal of the newborn Christ by an adult woman covered in sticky rice paper that was described by some critics as \u201cslime Jesus\u201d.<\/p>\n

The broadcast on ARD television from St Mary\u2019s in Stuttgart showed a manger in which a female performance actor was huddled up in a foetal position and covered with sticky rice paper.<\/p>\n

The officiating priest, Thomas Steiger, said during the service: \u201cThe nativity scene shows a real human being, lying there miserable, naked and exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next to him the actor breathed heavily and slowly writhed in the paper, which was apparently meant to represent vernix covering the newborn child.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how radically God becomes human: close, touchable, without distance, real,\u201d said Steiger, who is employed as an on-camera clergyman by the regional public broadcaster SWR.<\/p>\n

Milena Lorek, who designed the show, identified the figure in the creche on Instagram<\/a> as Eleni Sismanidou. Lorek has said she conceived the scene as \u201ca moment of uncertainty between safety and distress\u201d.<\/p>\n

The diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart has distanced itself from the Christmas service. Photograph: ARD1<\/p>\n

Rightwing media outlets, which have for years campaigned against Germany\u2019s public broadcasters<\/a> and the licence fees that finance them, went on the attack, calling the scene disrespectful to the faithful.<\/p>\n

Bild splashed with the headline \u201cARD shows Christmas mass with slime Jesus\u201d. The newspaper quoted viewers who said the figure in the straw looked more like a \u201cbreathing alien\u201d and condemned the spectacle as \u201csick and twisted\u201d.<\/p>\n

SWR said it had received more than 1,400 comments about the televised service, many of them critical. Local members of the Christian Democrats, the conservative party of chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a>, said the audience-financed installation represented artistic freedom run amok.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s disgusting,\u201d said Klaus Nopper, a CDU member of Stuttgart city council. \u201cThis is the Christmas story being hijacked by wokeness. Lines keep getting blurred and our values thrown overboard. This is how you destroy society.\u201d<\/p>\n

After nearly three weeks of mounting criticism and online mockery<\/a>, the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese acknowledged on Monday that not all had gone according to plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBishop Dr Klaus Kr\u00e4mer and the diocesan leadership have taken note of the feedback and carefully reviewed it over the past few days,\u201d it said in a statement on its website. \u201cThe reactions to the broadcast have shown that religious feelings were hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said the Catholic broadcasting service at SWR, which was responsible for the design of the nativity scene and the programme that was aired, \u201cdeeply regret this and emphasise that at no time was it their intention to provoke or disparage central tenets of faith\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevertheless, it has become clear that the chosen form of presentation caused bewilderment, incomprehension and anger among many people \u2013 especially on an important holiday such as Christmas,\u201d the diocese added.<\/p>\n

It admitted that it had also cut a few corners in the traditional Christmas liturgy \u201cfor the television format\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese deviations were incorrect and will be addressed,\u201d it said, adding that future church service broadcasts would be subject to \u201ca coordination and decision-making process\u201d in order to \u201cdo justice to both the church\u2019s responsibility and the particular sensitivity of such formats\u201d.<\/p>\n