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'Crucified Frog' Angers Pope

Pope Benedict XVI dislikes green sculpture

• Reuters
• AP
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• AP
• AP

• A wooden sculpture of a crucified frog, entitled 'Zuerst die Fuesse' (Feet First) and made by late German artist Martin Kippenberger in 1990.
• Pope Benedict XVI
• In this photo taken in June 2008 people talk under a sculpture portraying a green frog nailed to a cross, in the Museion museum in Bolzano, Italy. Museum officials said Aug. 28, 2008, the sculpture that has angered Pope Benedict XVI and local officials will continue to be on display. The board of the foundation of the Museion voted to keep the work by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger, the museum said in a statement. Earlier in August the pope had written a letter to Franz Pahl, the president of the Trentino-Alto Adige region that includes Bolzano, denouncing the sculpture. '[It] has offended the religious feelings of many people who consider the cross a symbol of God's love and of our redemption,' Pahl quoted the pope as writing in the letter.
• June 2, 2008: Protesters gather outside the Museion museum in Bolzano, Italy, near a banner saying 'While the frog on the cross is being shown do not enter the building,' referring to a sculpture portraying a green frog nailed to a cross on view inside.
• May 24, 2008: A view of a green frog sculpture nailed to a cross outside an office, during a protest inside the Museion museum in Bolzano, Italy.