Brazil's Miss Bumbum beauty pageant has sparked controversy after
hopefuls posed for a raunchy portrayal of iconic religious painting The
Last Supper.
The photo shows eight hopefuls in the country's
popular 'rear of the year' contest portraying Christ and his disciplines
- with the 'sexiest' girl posing as Jesus.
Religious leaders
branded the remake of the Da Vinci masterpiece "deeply disrespectful"
and even Brazil's religious intolerance commission condemned the
picture.
Even one of the women involved said she regretted posing
for the shot and said she had "asked forgiveness from God for a great
sin".
Now in its sixth year, Miss Bumbum is one of Brazil's most
hotly-disputed beauty contests with winners becoming overnight
celebrities and often going on to earn millions and modelling contracts
and endorsements.
After a public vote, the 27 contestants, each representing a
Brazilian state, are whittled down to 15 who then battle it out in a
live final on November 9.
Daiana Fegueredo, representing the
state of Ceara, was chosen to play Jesus in the photo as her bottom
received the most number of phone votes, making her the frontrunner in
the race for the coveted title.
But she said she now regrets
agreeing to taking part: "I did the photo because of my contract. But I
didn't like it and I wasn't happy about it. You can't play around with
the word of God.
"I completely understand people being angry about it, because even I'm angry and I'm in it. For me it is blasphemy.
"I
feel really bad deep inside of me. I'm a practising Catholic. Since I
did the photo my heart is tight inside my chest, I can't sleep and I
don't stop thinking about it. I've already asked forgiveness from God,
and I ask forgiveness from everyone else. We went too far. We were part
of a great sin."
Father Clesio Vieira, from the Volta Redonda diocese of Rio de Janeiro, said the photo has caused "great offence" to Catholics.
He said: "Everyone's talking about it. It has broken the boundaries
of ethics and respect, all in the name of money. This isn't creativity,
it's the vulgarisation of the sacred and is deeply disrespectful."
Assistant
bishop of Rio de Janeiro, Antonio Augusto Dias Duarte, also criticised
the photos, saying he was against any images showing women's bottoms,
"whatever the setting".
He added: "Women need to be valued for
their role as a wife, mother, professional, and for her intellectual and
cultural qualities."
In a statement, Babalawo Ivanir dos Santos,
from Brazil's Commission to Combat Religious Intolerance, said that the
picture was evidence "that intolerance is not just confined to African
religions."
But the founder of the Miss Bumbum competition, Cacau
Oliver, claimed the image was "not offensive to the church" and never
meant to shock anyone.
