A televised Christmas Eve mass in Germany featuring an unorthodox portrayal of the infant Jesus has drawn fierce criticism from conservative and religious viewers.
The service, broadcast on public broadcaster ARD from St. Mary’s Church in Stuttgart, showed a female performance artist curled up in a manger, covered in sticky rice paper meant to represent the vernix coating a newborn. As the officiating priest, Thomas Steiger, described the scene as depicting “a real human being, lying there miserable, naked and exposed,” the actress could be seen slowly writhing in the paper.
Steiger, who works as an on-camera clergyman for the regional broadcaster SWR, stated that the nativity scene was intended to show how “radically God becomes human: close, touchable, without distance, real.”
However, this unconventional interpretation of the Christmas story did not sit well with many viewers. Rightwing media outlets, which have long campaigned against Germany’s public broadcasters, were quick to condemn the scene as disrespectful to the faithful. The tabloid Bild ran the headline “ARD shows Christmas mass with ‘slimy Jesus’,” quoting viewers who likened the figure in the manger to a “breathing alien” and described the spectacle as “sick and twisted.”
The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, which oversees the church, has since distanced itself from the service, acknowledging that “religious feelings were hurt” by the chosen presentation. In a statement, the diocese said the Catholic broadcasting service responsible “deeply regret this and emphasize that at no time was it their intention to provoke or disparage central tenets of faith.”
The diocese admitted that certain deviations from the traditional Christmas liturgy “for the television format” were “incorrect” and would be addressed in the future. It promised that upcoming church service broadcasts would undergo a “coordination and decision-making process” to ensure they “do justice to both the church’s responsibility and the particular sensitivity of such formats.”
The controversy has reignited the ongoing debate in Germany over the role and content of public broadcasting, with conservative critics accusing the networks of pushing a liberal agenda and disrespecting traditional values. As the dust settles, the diocese and the broadcasters involved will likely be working to find a balance between artistic expression and religious sensibilities in their future holiday programming.