A group of naked women bum-rushed Belgian Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard while he was speaking in Brussels and doused him with water from bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary on Tuesday.
The women were reportedly feminist protesters from the Ukranian-based FEMEN group, which is known for organizing topless protests against the Catholic Church and others.
According to AFP, the four protesters charged the archbishop during “a debate on blasphemy and freedom of expression held at the Brussels’ Free University (ULB) campus Tuesday evening, baring their breasts and squirting water at Archbishop Andre Leonard as they accused him of homophobia.”
Photos of the event show Leonard patiently sitting quietly with his eyes closed and hands folded in prayer as the women empty bottles of water on his head and clothes.
Security guards forcibly removed the protesters who held up a sign that read, “Stop Homophobia.”
Leonard had told a Belgian newspaper in March that homosexuality is “a given that people find in themselves and whose origins remain somewhat mysterious,” and said he urges Christian homosexuals to adopt a life of celibacy.
After the women were removed from the room, a photo of Leonard captured the archbishop picking up one of the now-empty bottles and reverently kissing the image of the Virgin Mary it depicted.
Afterward, the FEMEN website characterized the protest as an “attack” on “one of the main European preachers of homophobia,” meant to mark France’s legalization of gay marriage on Tuesday.
The Church later responded to the incident in a statement depicting the protest as “the attitude of a few persons… in total contradiction with the theme of the debate and with the manner in which the Catholic Church hopes for dialogue.”
