Bishop: Jesus offered his life for that posing girl, too

‘HOLY COW!’ A day after Easter Sunday, netizens are incensed at a photo now going viral on social network sites of a girl who suggestively posed for the camera on the cross. Photo taken on Good Friday by photography enthusiast Maike Domingo in Brgy Lourdes Northwest, Angeles, Pampanga.

ANGELES CITY—“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David repeated the words of Jesus Christ in connection with what many netizens have decried as a desecration of their religion after tourists used crosses put up outside this city on Good Friday as props and backdrops for their pictures.

The images have circulated on the social networking site Facebook.

“Jesus offered his life for that posing girl, too,” said David, head of the Holy Rosary Parish here, referring to the photo of a young woman who, standing on a cross, had her left leg slightly bent and right arm slung over the crossbar in a provocative pose.

The photo and three others arranged in a collage in a Facebook account drew 2,730 “likes” as of Tuesday noon. At least 3,272 shared the photos while 4,198 posted comments.

The owner of the account encouraged Facebook “friends” to share the images.

Another photo showed two young women jumping high with knees bent in front of two crosses. Still another had a Caucasian-looking woman, in black top and pants and a red scarf, standing on a cross with arms outstretched as in prayer.

The photos were taken at a local version of Calvary in Barangay (village) Lourdes North West here where seven men took turns being nailed to three wooden crosses before 3 p.m. on Good Friday.

David, also chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Bible Apostolate of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, urged sobriety.

“Enough already. No need to mobilize a Facebook lynch mob. Easter blessings to one and all,” he said.

But while David treated the incidents with calm, Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan was angry.

“Strictly speaking, this is a sacrilege, an affront to Christian beliefs,” he said. “They ridiculed the cross.”

The barangay chairman, Paul Ryan Puri, apologized for the incident, which happened after the staging of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) was over in a fenced area where a gate for reporters was left unlocked.

“They entered through the media gate. Our guards on duty were too tired and forgot to close the gate,” Puri said.

He denied television news reports that the guards had encouraged the spectators to pose before the crosses.

“That is not true because our people and the council consider this place sacred where our elders hold Lenten rites,” Puri said.

To avert a repeat of the incident next year, he said the crosses would be taken down immediately after the reenactment of the crucifixion and the Pieta (the part where the Virgin Mary cradles the dead Jesus).