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Loading ...Italy refuses to prosecute comic for Pope gay joke
09.19.2008 12:18pm EDT
(Rome) Italy’s Justice Minister has rejected a call to prosecute stand-up comic Sabina Guzzanti for telling an audience that Benedict XVI would “go to hell and be pursued by two big, gay and very active devils.”
Benedict is known for his vocal opposition to LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. Guzzanti was appearing at an anti-politics rally in Rome last July.It is a criminal offense in Italy to “offend the honor” of the Pope or the Italian president, under a Fascist-era law.
The Rome city prosecutor, Giovanni Ferrara, asked Federal Justice Minister Angelino Alfano for permission to start criminal proceedings against Guzzanti. Ferrara said that Guzzanti’s comments went beyond satire.
If convicted, Guzzanti could have been imprisoned for up to five years.
“I decided not to authorize it, knowing well the stature and capacity of the Pope for forgiveness,” Justice Minister Angelino Alfano said Friday.
The Vatican appears to agree with Alfano. “The Justice Minister’s decision was wise,” Vatican spokesperson Father Federico Lombardi told Ansa news agency.
“The Pope’s authority is far too superior to be dented [by the comments] and, in his magnanimity, he considers the case closed.”
Guzzanti is no stranger to controversy. She recently caused a storm by suggesting that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s equal opportunities minister Mara Carfagna - who had previously worked as a topless model - got her job in exchange for performing oral sex on the Italian Premier.
The Pope is “far too superior” to absolutely nothing. Pope Pompous can kiss my butt and I couldn’t care less if he “forgives me” or not. This hateful homophobic f*ck can take his forgiveness and shove it up his rather sizeable ass.
The fact that this was even considered seems highly dubious. Italy and Poland are America’s bossom buddies in Europe though, so I guess we shouldn’t be terribly surprised. They’re both countries run by the extreme right.
The bit I don’t get - would any self-respecting gay man bugger this clerical throwback anyway - even with someone else’s?
Stuart H. Said:
“The bit I don’t get - would any self-respecting gay man bugger this clerical throwback anyway - even with someone else’s?”
Just “two big, gay and very active devils”.
Hhhhaaaaa! Kkkkkaaaa! ROFLMAO!
We wouldn’t want Italy to protect the free speech of this comic. No that would be stupid. So instead they figured the pope was just ‘to big’ to care. Sad Italy, very sad. You had the chance to fight for the protection of free speech and you opted to appease a bigoted moron.
Uhm, did you not read the whole article? It said that Italian courts decided not to persue the case. The Vatican just confirmed that they were not concerned with persuing it any further either. It was the gov’t that chose to do the right thing and not try to stamp out free speech.
Did YOU read the whole story? Why did they not follow through with charges? It wasn’t because the believe that people have the right to say anything they want. It was because they figured the pope was ‘above’ the joke. That’s not defending ‘free speed’. That was just a cop out. What if the vatican opted to press the issue? What would these guys have done? Defended the ‘free speech’ of this comedian? Or just kowtow to the pope? Reading this article, I’d say the would bend like a twig to the will of that bigot. THAT was what I’m getting at.
I do believe the point was:
This little “incident” wasn’t worthy of a criminal investigation in the first place. Whether the Justice Ministry ultimately decided to press charges or not is immaterial. Comedians are supposed to tell jokes. That’s an integral part of their job. By saying entertainers might be imprisoned for telling jokes about political leaders, the state is interfering in how they make a living.
As a recovering Catholic, I can honestly say this pope can go [screw] himself. Self appointed piece of [crap] by a small group of butt buddies throughout the world wearing black dresses and cute little beanie caps. Repressive religion that thinks they are God’s chosen ones who believe a bunch of fables in the Old Testament and subscribe to the oppressive views in the new testatment, despite the fact that it’s not the word of God, but that of men. You know,the ones that believe woman should be submissive, that they should be allowed to have more than one wife and if they disobey, stone the [women] to death or cut out their [privates]. The church and all of its offspring is run by a bunch of hypcrites who time and time again get their hands caught in the cookie jar. Believe in yourself, believe in something greater than yourself but don’t believe this annointed piece of crap that only speaks for half of his flock. The other half are much smarter than that.
The Italian courts were very attentive about public outrage in the case they did decide to go on with the charges.
A lot of people here in Italy do not like this pope and they do not like the special laws the protect him.
However he has plenty of air time on television every week to mouth off what he thinks is the way things should be.
Personally, I can’t stand him.
Keith,
I edited your comment for language.
Sincerely,
James
Since 11/13 2008 UN says the POPE is CRIMINAL and must be held responsible for Crimes against Humanity and International Law, as he and “Catholicism justify the killing of INNOCENT PEOPLE, and TERRORIST ACTS”, so we must get rid of him before the end of this year so we can celebrate Charles Darwin, so we all finally DARE TO RECOGNIZE OURSELVES AS MAN and we all at New Years Eve 2009 finally can JOIN as KNOWERS, so we all instead can live in REAL DEMOCRACIES, MAN ABOVE ALL; All of Equal Worth, on OUR, yes OUR EARTH, and CLINK OUR GLASSES and CELEBRATE the REBIRTH of MAN and KNOWLEDGE, see my site http://www.DarwinTime.com and load down my song “Our World is Upside-Down” ManPeace@DarwinTime.com
homophobia from a guy that wears ruby red shoes,must be a fan of Judy Garland.
and in response to his comment on homosexuality,
‘it’s ok to be the pope as long as you don’t pray.’
I was a recovering catholic long before i was a recovering alcoholic.