Madonna has been criticized for sharing an AI photograph of herself and Pope Francis.
Madonna, 66, shared what seemed like an image of the pope, 87, embracing the pop icon through her Instagram Story on Friday, December 13. The picture, which has since expired, learn, “Feels good to be seen.” Madonna additionally tagged the Instagram account of Rick Dick, who made the picture.
Dick additionally posted the picture onto his account with the caption, “MA.I.DONNA AND THE POPE. Thanks @madonna ❤️🔥.”
The picture subsequently sparked on-line controversy.
“That is ridiculously disrespectful,” one social media person wrote within the remark part, whereas others discovered it to be “so bizarre” and “so creepy.”
Neither Madonna, Dick nor the Vatican have publicly addressed the backlash; Us Weekly has reached out for remark. The factitious intelligence artist, nonetheless, did share screenshots of media protection of the controversy through Instagram Story on Saturday, December 14.
Madonna’s title, songs such as “Like a Prayer” and her excursions have beforehand been criticized by Catholic figures for allegedly together with spiritual allegories. Her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour was even boycotted by the pope on the time, Pope John Paul II.
“I used to be raised with a Catholic training. In the course of the press convention, whereas I used to be busy selling In Mattress with Madonna, I used to be shocked to see myself attacked by the Church as a result of it was unable to grasp how a lot my work was attempting to supply one thing good,” Madonna advised Vanity Fair Italia in 2023. “I instantly realized that the issue was them, not me. The issue was them as a result of that they had not understood that my work as an artist united individuals, gave them freedom of expression, unity. It was the mirror of Jesus’ teachings. Whoever attacked me was only a hypocrite.”
Now, Madonna identifies as non secular.
“I believe you will need to have a sample of rituals and a non secular life. However I additionally assume that faith with out understanding, with out information, with out curiosity and inclusiveness can’t be thought-about faith,” she advised the outlet. “Faith isn’t adhering to an unique or extremist group. Faith is respecting different religions. Faith is encouraging individuals to grasp what they consider and to check what they consider in as a substitute of adhering to a dogma that with out research and with out understanding can be empty and sterile.”
Madonna added, “My relationship with faith in the present day? Cultivating my non secular practices. Practices which are legitimate for me and don’t essentially should be legitimate for everybody. I believe everybody ought to do it as a result of I discover it vital to hope and have a reference to the soul, with non secular power, name it what you need. I believe it will be important as a result of I consider within the concept of one thing greater, one thing increased, one thing metaphysical that’s past us however that retains us all collectively.”