Madonna posts intimate photos with the Pope – and enrages many fans

Madonna and the Catholic Church – it’s a connection that has been making headlines for over 30 years. With two photos that the 66-year-old has now published in an Instagram story, she is now causing another scandal.

In the pictures, Madonna can be seen alongside Pope Francis. She wears black lace outfits, he wears a white cassock. The head of the Catholic Cherry holds the singer in his arms, nestles his face against her head and smiles. It almost looks like he wants to kiss her. However, the recordings are not real snapshots: the images were taken by the Italian AI artist RickDick. Although the pictures are not real, they are causing a shitstorm on social media.

Users on the platform X, formerly Twitter, brand the motifs as “disrespectful”, “inappropriate” and “creepy”. Some question whether digital art should really go so far as to depict Madonna in an intimate moment with the Pope. Others say the photos are an insult to the Pope and all Christians. However, the singer also receives encouragement from some fans. They see the pictures as a humorous production and praise Madonna for what she has always done: to provoke with a daring mixture of pop culture and religion.

In fact, Madonna’s controversy with the Catholic Church dates back to the 1980s. In 1989, she released the music video for her song “Like a Prayer.” In the clip, she dances scantily clad in front of burning crosses and lounges on a church pew with a black Jesus. The mixing of religion and sex angered the church. The Vatican spoke of blasphemy and called for a boycott of their “Blond Ambition” tour in Italy. “I am aware that the Vatican and certain communities accuse my show of being sinful and blasphemous, that they are trying to stop people from seeing it. I think that I offend certain groups, but I believe that the people, who really understand what I’m doing and don’t mind it,” Madonna explained.

In the years that followed, she repeatedly used religious symbols in her stage appearances. In 2006, during her European tour, she appeared in the Jesus pose on the cross and with a crown of thorns. In 2008 she sang her song “Like a Prayer” at a performance in Rome for Pope Benedict XVI. “I dedicate this song to the Pope because I am a child of God,” she said at the time with an ironic undertone.

In 2022, she even addressed Pope Francis directly with a tweet and called herself a “good Catholic.” “It’s been a few decades since I last confessed. Would it be possible to meet one day to discuss some important things?” wrote Madonna. She had “already been excommunicated three times.” She sees that as unfair. However, with the publication of the current photos, a meeting between Madonna and Pope Francis may have become a long way off.