Madonna Crucified

Catholics are urging the Polish government and organizers to ban pop star Madonna's concert scheduled for Aug. 15, the Assumption of Mary feast.

Marian Brudzynski, member of the Mazowiecki regional assembly, said Madonna cannot sing on the religious feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary and announced a protest committee is being organized to stop the concert.

Brudzynski, a former member of the conservative League of Polish Families party, said Catholics will do all in their power to prevent the concert from taking place. The protest committee plans to ask Interior Minister Grzegorz Schetyna to cancel the concert, he said.

Brudzynski said if they fail to stop Madonna's concert they will stage a massive picket outside and added: We want to stifle Madonna.

Krzysztof Zagozda, of the Catholic Society organization, said the concert would hurt Poles' religious sentiment as Madonna's performances are anti-Christian.

Stanislaw Malkowski, former Warsaw Solidarity union's chaplain, said the Catholic church and the Polish nation should protest loudly against the Madonna concert.

Madonna has upset dignitaries in St. Petersburg, Russia, by using strong language.

The singer said It's fucking great at the beginning of an online audio teaser for her Sticky and Sweet concert in Palace Square which will take place on 2nd August.

Reports suggest members of the legislative assembly in St. Petersburg have addressed Governor Valentina Matvienko with a proposal to sue Madonna for her comments, reported contactmusic.com.

Madonna has been branded a crypto-Satanist for playing a night of her Sticky And Sweet tour on a Roman Catholic holiday in Poland.

The star had performed despite a flurry of protests from religious leaders and even pleas from the country's former president Lech Walesa.

Marian Baranski, deputy head of the Polish Faith and National Tradition Defense Committee, said: Madonna specialises in offending religious feelings. It is possible to suspect her of being a crypto-Satanist.

The performance on August 15 was the Feast Of The Assumption day that Christians mark the Virgin Mary's ascension to heaven.

Just last week, Walesa appealed to the concert's organisers: Please avoid any collision with my faith during this extraordinary day.

Catholic protesters arrived at the venue in Warsaw holding religious banners and flags.

Bulgaria's Orthodox Church has repeated its call for Bulgarians to boycott Madonna's August 29 concert, accusing the controversial singer of showing disrespect to Christianity.

About 50 000 people are expected to attend the show at Sofia's Vasil Levski Stadium.

The Church issued a statement expressing disapproval and disagreement with Saturday's event, and says the American performer openly violates holy Christian symbols.

Tuesday's statement accused Madonna of displaying a disrespectful and intolerant attitude to Christians' religious feelings on her ongoing Sticky and Sweet tour.

The gig this Saturday reportedly coincides with another religious holy day, in which the region recognises the beheading of Saint John the Baptist by spending the day fasting.

A Bulgarian religious official has claimed a Madonna gig was to blame for a boating accident which killed 15 people.

Nikolay, the metropolitan of Bulgarian city Plovdiv, says he is angered that the September 5 leg of the star's Sticky & Sweet tour took place.

Locals are expected to commemorative the anniversary of the beheading of John The Baptist on that day.

Demanding it should have been spent in contemplation rather than enjoyment, he cited the tragedy on Lake Ohrid, which saw a pleasure boat crash with many fatalities.

The catastrophe in Macedonia in which 15 Bulgarian citizens died was a sign from heaven, claimed Nikolay.

The Orthodox Church had called for people not to enjoy themselves on the day marking the execution of John. We should not allow the young to have fun on a day that should be dedicated to spiritual reflection, he insisted.