Cancellation for Easter cloth

Helnwein locates “Cancel Culture” in St. Stephen’s Cathedral

(Bild: HANS KLAUS TECHT / APA / picturedesk.com)

After the Vienna Cathedral Chapter decided not to follow up this year's Lenten cloth designed by Gottfried Helnwein with an "Easter cloth" and a "Pentecost cloth" by the artist, as originally planned, Helnwein himself has spoken out. He sees this as a kind of "censorship culture".

The cathedral chapter of St. Stephen's in Vienna announced on March 21 that the "Easter cloth" of a child with the wounds of Christ, which had only been presented to the cathedral chapter the day before, was in itself an "impressive and serious work of art". In view of Easter and the way it is depicted, however, it could "disturb people" and polarize, which is why the planned continuation of the Helnwein cycle will not take place.

"Cathedral should not become a battlefield"
In the Ö1 program "Im Fokus", Rudolf Prokschi, chairman of the Vienna Cathedral Chapter, commented on the case. He said that the main reason for the last-minute decision was that Helnwein's depiction of a wounded child left a wide range of interpretations open. "The cathedral, and the chancel of the cathedral at that, should not become a battlefield," said the theologian and priest.

Gottfried Helnwein and cathedral priest Toni Faber at the presentation of the Lenten cloths.(Bild: APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

Helnwein himself emphasized in the same broadcast that he "could not understand" the reasoning of the cathedral chapter. The Catholic Church has a "2000-year-old tradition in the depiction of pain, death and blood" and focuses on suffering, torture and pain more than any other religion. He sees the non-hanging of the second subject as an example and victim of a "cancel culture", an "orgy of censorship" that can also be observed in the art world.

The second picture of the planned Helnwein cycle appeared on the cover of the current St. Stephen's parish magazine.(Bild: Pfarrblatt St. Stephan/Gottfried Helnwein)

Schönborn welcomes decision
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has now also commented on the matter. He supports the decision of the Vienna Cathedral Chapter. He agrees with the arguments of the cathedral chapter, said Schönborn in an interview with Kathpress and the media of the Archdiocese of Vienna. The reasoning was well considered.