Argentine politician slammed for eating life-sized Jesus cake

  • 31/05/2018
A campaign is calling for the Minister's dismissal after he was caught eating the cake.
A campaign is calling for the Minister's dismissal after he was caught eating the cake. Photo credit: Instagram

A minister in Argentina has come under fire for eating a cake resembling Jesus Christ. 

Argentina's Minister of Culture has been forced to apologise after he ate a slice of Jesus' arm at a contemporary art show in Buenos Aires where the cake was served up, Vice reported. 

The exhibition, created by Argentinian artists Marianela Perelli and Pool Paolini - better known as Pool y Marianela - featured the Jesus cake, which had red velvet to symbolise blood. 

In a video posted to Instagram, Minister Enrique Avogadro was caught red-handed eating the cake - a move that hasn't gone down well with the country's many devout Catholics. 

Swathes of Argentines have condemned the Minister for his actions. 

"Please, if you have any dignity left, go away with the scourge that accompanies you," one Facebook user wrote to Mr Avogadro. 

"You have hurt the deeply religious, and the Christian and Catholic faith. You do not deserve [your role] in a nation that was born under the Cross and the sword."

A Change.org petition had been established calling for Mr Avogadro's dismissal. 

The minister issued an apology on Facebook saying he "sincerely regrets if someone felt offended."

"As a person, I have a very clear opinion in favour (sic) of freedom of expression, particularly when it's related to issues that question us, that make us reflect or that oppose our own convictions," he said.

"I also believe that the place of art is precisely to make us uncomfortable and to shake us." 

"I understand, on the other hand, that public employees have a role that transcends what's personal, and as such, we're responsible for our actions. For this same reason, I want to apologise."

The minister's actions were described as "a grievance to the religious spirit," by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Cardinal Mario Poli. 

Newshub.