The Catalan Catholic association E-Cristians has published a statement calling for the cessation of TV3's Está passo program for the controversial gag about the Virgen del Rocío as it "violated" the criteria of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia (CAC).
They consider that the parody is a "very serious offense against the religious beliefs of Catholics and other religious denominations", not only because of the treatment of the virgin, but also to God himself, "because of the way in which he treated the figure of the child Jesus.
"It is an unacceptable exercise of Catholic phobia, and a deliberate offense to religious sentiment (...)", reads the statement. To which a manifestation of "phobia" towards Andalusian speech and culture also appeals.
E-Cristian asks, through this statement, for a "proportionate and pedagogical penalty" for those responsible, and they demand "compliance with the rules that the CAC endowed itself with, and that TV3 assumed". The association refers to the report Criteria for the treatment of religious events in entertainment programs that were approved on May 9, 2002 by the plenary session of the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC).
"If they are not capable of respecting themselves in their agreement, it is difficult for them to recognize anything valuable, and by extension they are not deserving of citizen respect," they argue.
The association demands, among other things, the pronouncement of the President of the Generalitat on these facts and the advertisers of the program and, in general, those of TV3, so that they are aware that their advertising "favors this type of actions that are so harmful to the respect and coexistence.
