Archbishop demands suspension of Marilyn Manson’s concert in Mexico

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – Archbishop Jorge Cavazos Arizpe of San Luis Potosi, a city with more than 800,000 residents in Mexico, asked the local state governor to cancel a concert of rockstar Marilyn Manson scheduled to happen on Aug. 10, claiming that it can “take to situations of evil.”

Cavazos told journalists on Jun. 15 during a press conference that he had sent a letter to Governor Ricardo Gallardo Cardona asking him to cancel the presentation.

“Yes, I have sent a letter about it to the governor asking him exactly, for the society’s sake and the sake of all Christians, [the concert’s suspension],” he told the press.

Cavazos claimed that the concert “does not bring fraternity nor joy” and involves mockery of the Catholic faith and creeds.

“I don’t know that person [Manson], only in a general way. But if we understand that situations of evil can be caused, as a Church – united with our Lord Jesus – we cannot promote any kind of insinuation of evil. We have to attack all situations,” he added.

Manson’s concert will be part of Potosi’s annual National Fair, which will take place between Aug. 8-31. The fair will include concerts of several Mexican and international artists, like Dutch-born DJ Tiësto. Manson will be the major attraction.

Cavazos emphasized that the fair was originally a religious celebration in honor of Saint Louis, the city’s – and the state’s – patron saint.

“I heard many people say – and, among them, many young people – that they’re troubled with that [the concert] happening,” he said.

The archbishop also recalled that the local government discussed the possibility of prohibiting the so-called narcocorridos, a subgenre of the Mexican corridos (a kind of narrative ballad) dealing with themes connected to drug trafficking. In that case, he argued, other expressions that involve ridiculing the faith should be equally forbidden.

Governor Gallardo told the local newspaper El Universal de Potosí that the concert will happen.

“We’re not anymore in the time of the Holy Inquisition to forbid artistic expressions,” he said.

Fifth-six-year-old Marilyn Manson, whose name of birth is Brian Warner, began his career in Florida in 1989. Each member of his original band should choose a stage name formed by the first name of a US sex symbol and the last name of a serial killer. Warner decided to allude to Marilyn Monroe and to the convicted cult leader and murderer Charles Manson.

Since the beginning, his industrial metal concerts were notorious for the presence of bizarre elements, like the guts of dead animals and women in crosses. References to Satanism and the desecration of Christian symbols have always been part of the show as well.

Manson’s 1996 album, called Antichrist Superstar, faced an enormous campaign of criticism promoted by Christian groups in the United States. Over the decades, he was accused by women on a number of occasions of sexual harassment and abuse. Earlier this year, a 4-year investigation on denouncements of abuse and domestic violence was concluded without charges being filed against him.

Despite Manson’s controversial public image, the archbishop’s attempt to impede his concert to occur in San Luis Potosí was received with criticism by many Mexicans.

Sixty-one-year-old journalist Rafael Aguilar is one of them. A resident of San Luis Potosi and an old-time rock fan, Aguilar defined Cavazos’s measure as a “hypocritical publicity stunt.”

“Mexico is a lay state. That’s a retrograde message the Church is sending, something from the past,” Aguilar told Crux, adding that it should reflect about its own problems, “including the scandals involving some priests.”

The most notorious case in the city involves the former priest Eduardo Cordova, accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys in seminars and Catholic schools over 30 years. Cordova is on the run and the Archdiocese of San Luis Potosí argues it doesn’t know his whereabouts.

“In other parts of the country as well, there are alarming denunciations. The Church has much to solve before attempting to control what happens in society,” Aguilar added.

He recalled that in 1989 British rock band Black Sabbath had a scheduled concert in San Luis Potosí, but an alliance between the Catholic Church and right-wing authorities made the event impossible.

“There were more than 20,000 tickets already sold and people from Guadalajara, Mexico City and other parts of the country were all here waiting for the concert,” he recalled.

The reasons for the suspension of the Black Sabbath’s concert have never been totally clear, but Aguilar said that the campaign orchestrated by the Church against the band was determinant.

“The Church was rather powerful in Mexico back then. But now it’s not anymore. It’s an institution in crisis,” he said.

Aguilar, who is Catholic, said that Manson “is not exactly a Satanic rockstar like other artists who came before him.”

“He’s a guy from the 1990s, he has a lighter stance. Moreover, it’s a one-day concert, it will not have any kind of ideological impact,” he added, saying he intends to attend the event.