On June 27, 2024, the unimaginable happened.
A blasphemous statue depicting Our Lady half nude giving birth to Our Lord was featured in an “art” exhibit – at a Catholic cathedral in Linz, Austria.
The statue is pornographic. It mocks the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary by exposing her intimate body parts in the midst of childbirth.
Needless to say, such a crude, heretical, and inaccurate depiction of the Nativity is unacceptable and scandalized many.
However, the diocese did not see a problem with such a blasphemous portrayal. Even after public outcry, the statue remained on display.
When the pleas of faithful Catholics were ignored, the Austrian Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) organized an online petition addressed to the Bishop of Linz, the Most Rev. Manfred Scheuer, who had given permission for the statue to be displayed at the cathedral.
In addition to the online protest, the Austrian TFP organized a large-scale prayer rally of reparation in Linz on Saturday, July 13.
That’s when the American TFP also decided to take action and organize its own petition drives in America, which collected over 33,000 names. In addition, six TFP representatives traveled from America to hand-deliver the petitions and take part in what had grown to be an International Act of Reparation.
A lot happened that day.
In the morning, Austrian, German, French, Polish, Brazilian, and American TFP members took to the streets of Linz and handed out flyers, inviting locals to join the International Act of Reparation that would take place later that day.
The campaign started at the Hauptplatz Plaza, Linz’s main square, which bustled with foot traffic from a street market and music festival taking place simultaneously. Around every thirty minutes, the campaign moved to another part of the city, repeating this maneuver several times over the course of two hours. By doing this, they covered as much ground as possible.
However, many city residents hadn’t heard about the blasphemy. Some of them were shocked to find out about this horror, while others were horrified that the TFP volunteers were so “close-minded.”
One man in a grey shirt refused to take a flyer saying, “You all are crazy.” He loudly complained about the campaign. Others laughed at the TFP, while a few merely shook their heads in disagreement.
However, these naysayers were outnumbered, and the majority of Austrians were firmly against the sacrilege.
One young man named Alexander approached the rally, saying that he recognized the band and wanted to check and see if it was TFP. Once he discovered that it was, he explained that he had been watching the videos for years and how they helped him take his faith more seriously. He would end up returning to take part in the International Act of Reparation later that day.
Following the morning campaign, the American TFP volunteers proceeded to Bishop Manfred Scheuer’s office, where they delivered the petition of over 33,000 signatures protesting the blasphemous statue.
The International Act of Reparation began at 5 p.m. with the solemn entrance of the Austrian TFP’s statue of Our Lady of Fatima and trumpet blasts which resounded throughout the streets of Linz.
In addition to the statue and trumpets, there were bagpipes, several banners, and sixteen TFP volunteers. They were joined by over thirty locals who they invited earlier that day, resulting in a beautiful scene that Saturday afternoon.
In between the mysteries of the rosary, participants sang Marian hymns in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
They held banners that quoted the saints and featured beautiful images of Our Lady, which were meant to counteract the horrendous caricature that was placed in the Cathedral.
Some passersby heckled the rally participants, but the vast majority of people showed support. Many locals realized that such a sculpture was indefensible.
One man visiting from Texas asked what the campaign was about. One of the protesters explained the blasphemy, to which he said, “Oh, I heard about that! Is that really here? I didn’t know!” He then expressed gratitude for what they were doing.
After spending nearly an hour on the busy street corner, they processed a couple of blocks with the Austrian TFP’s beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima and dispersed. Many people stayed for some time after the rally, talking with each other and praying before the statue in reparation for the blasphemous one right next door.
A Massive Success
The rally was a massive success. It achieved its goal: to make public reparation for one of the worst blasphemies of the twenty-first century. Thousands of Catholic Americans expressed their outrage at such a horror, and this pious sentiment was conveyed directly to the diocese.
Thanks to the supporters of the American TFP and their generosity, the United States played a key role in this historic effort to make reparation for one of the worst cases of clergy-condoned blasphemy to date.