Brussels archbishop hit with foam pies, refuses legal action

Brussels, Belgium, Apr 14, 2011 / 11:46 am

The head of the Catholic Church in Belgium told CNA that he won’t be taking legal action against the pro-gay activists who attacked him with pies made from shaving foam.

Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard was ambushed on four occasions while on a visit to the Catholic University of Lovain-la-Neuve, near Brussels, on April 5.

His spokesman told CNA on April 13, “The Archbishop will not pursue legal action against the pie throwers” but added that he “does not take the attacks as a joke.”

According to the French news agency AFP, one of the people who threw the pies told Belgian reporters, “For all those homosexuals who dare not tell their parents they are gay, for all those young girls who want to have an abortion, he absolutely deserved it.”

Footage of the attacks posted on YouTube shows the archbishop being hit with a “cream pie” while walking to the venue and, again, inside it. The footage was posted by a well-known Belgian prankster who goes by the nick-name “the Glooper.” He has also claimed credit in recent years for similar attacks upon the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Curiously, the pie has long been used by gay rights campaigners as a form of protest. In 1977, the American singer and pro-family campaigner Anita Bryant was “pied” at a press conference in Florida after opposing the adoption of children by gay couples.

The spokesman for Archbishop Leonard says he won’t be intimidated or silenced by such attacks, “Even if it were sure that the attacks were inspired by the views of the Archbishop about homosexuality, the Archbishop does not consider changing his views.”