Spanish bishops condemn mockery of Sacred Heart of Jesus on Spanish public television

ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 3, 2025 / 06:00 am

Spain’s bishops are speaking out after the host of a new year’s countdown on Spanish public television showed during the broadcast a picture with the face of the mascot of a well-known program in place of the face of Jesus on a traditional image of the Sacred Heart.

Laura Yustres Vélez, known as “Lalachús,” is a Spanish actress and comedian who appears on the program “La Revuelta” (“The Revolt”), a nighttime comedy show on Spanish public television characterized by its irreverent humor and asking the show’s guests about their sex life and financial worth.

Yustres starred on the New Year’s Eve episode along with David Broncano, host of “La Revuelta,” in a segment from the Puerta del Sol, a large plaza in Madrid, as its famous clock chimed the last few moments of 2024.

At one point during the broadcast, Lalachús showed an image in which the face of a bull that is a character on “El Gran Prix,” a well-known family entertainment show in Spain, was superimposed over where the face of Jesus would be in an image of the Sacred Heart.

The image includes a halo behind the character’s head, a Sacred Heart on the chest on which the left hand rests, and the right hand is raised with three fingers extended and two folded, symbolizing the Trinity.

“I always carry my little image of the Vaquilla [‘the cute bull’] of the ‘Gran Prix’ with me,” said Yustres, showing it to the viewers as one of her amulets for the new year.

Spanish bishops react

The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Luis Argüello, said he was saddened by the controversial image. “With the excuse of freedom of expression and the excesses of the festivities, TVE [Spanish public television] makes fun of the symbol of the heart so dear to all Catholics,” he said.

“The saddest thing is that those responsible are not aware of what they’re doing. Once again banality surrounds us,” he added.

The archbishop of Seville, José Ángel Saiz Meneses, also criticized the mockery and asked: “How long will they take advantage of our patience?”

The archbishop of Oviedo, Jesús Sanz Montes, emphasized that “if she tried to do [the same thing] with [an image of] Mohammed, it wouldn’t be funny at all.”

The bishop of Vitoria, Juan Carlos Elizalde, pointed out that “Catholics are not second-class citizens, and even less so in a country where the vast majority of citizens are baptized or are children of Catholics.”

Fernando Prado, the bishop of Bilbao, invited people to protest the incident by choosing other television options next year.

Christian Lawyers Foundation files complaint

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The Spanish Christian Lawyers Foundation filed a complaint against the president of Spanish Radio Television, José Pablo López, and Yustres for an alleged hate crime under Article 510 of the Spanish Penal Code and another complaint in violation of religious sentiments under the code’s Article 525.

In addition, the complaint points out that López posted on his social media the image of Yustres holding the altered holy card, together with other images from the program, stating he is “happy to work with people who take risks.”

For the lawyers, “this message on social media shows that the mockery of Christians had, at the very least, his approval or was even orchestrated by him.”

The organization also charged “that attacks on Christians are being used to create controversy and thus increase viewership, something that already happened with the opening gala of the Olympic Games” and that “the use of the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as the [bull] on the ‘Gran Prix’ denotes clear contempt and mockery toward the rites and symbols of Catholicism and constitutes an affront, an insult, and an outrage toward religious sentiments and Catholic beliefs.”

Eliminating crimes against religious sentiments

Last July, the Spanish government announced it would address the issue of eliminating the crime against religious sentiments from the penal code, which has been criticized by different entities and personalities, including the president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference.

The announcement became official last September when the measure was included in the so-called Action Plan for Democracy.

Argüello noted on X that “feelings have been elevated to a category in the law, for example, to be able to change one’s sex; more and more expressions are considered hate crimes. In this environment of paying tribute to emotions in the law, religious sentiments cease to be a protected good in the law.”

The government’s intention has also been opposed by Christian denominations other than the Catholic Church as well as by the Jewish and Muslim communities.

In a recent joint statement they stressed that “as citizens and believers, we also claim the right of our faithful to be able to live their faith in a climate of respect for religious sentiments, protected by other rights also protected by the constitution, such as the right to religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and the right to one’s dignity and moral standing.”

This measure would remove Spain from the majority of the countries in the European Union that protect religious freedom, since 21 of the 27 member states provide penalties for actions against religious sentiments.

The minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with Parliament, Félix Bolaños, reacted to the complaint by Christian Lawyers with a message on X stating that their complaint represents an “attempt by the right-wing opposition to intimidate” in which he reiterated the government’s intention to repeal the crime of offending religious sentiments.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.