Like a prayer? More like a
prank call.
A 63-year-old Dutch priest has confessed to calling in a phony bomb
threat last week before a pair of Madonna concerts in Amsterdam in a last-ditch
effort to stop the singer from staging her mock-crucifixion act, officials said
Friday.
The would-be terrorist was easily identified as he used his home phone to
make the call to an emergency services line, where it was automatically traced,
officials said.
Officials said they never believed that threat was credible.
"We take bomb threats seriously, but in this case it was clear very quickly
that it was not real," Amsterdam prosecution spokesman Robert Meulenbroek told
the Associated Press.
The priest appeared before a judge Friday and was released, pending judgment.
As it was his first offense, he will likely be sentenced to community service,
officials said.
The concerts went forward without incident on Sunday and Monday, despite the
best efforts of a handful of protesters.
The Material Girl's mock-crucifixion scenario has drawn ire from religious
figures in almost every location her World Is My Dance Floor tour has touched
down.
In Rome, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders came together in a rare show of
unity to object to the singer's act taking place in the cradle of Christianity.
In Duesseldorf, prosecutors threatened to toss the pop star in the lockup if
her act was construed as offensive to religious beliefs--a violation of German
law.
However, the Dutch priest was the first to really blow his top over the
issue.
After her Amsterdam showing, Madonna and entourage moved onto Prague, where
she performed two sold-out shows on Wednesday and Thursday. (Unsurprisingly,
Czech religious figures added their voices to the chorus of objections to the
mock-crucifixion scene.)
The Confessions on a Dance Floor singer next performs in Moscow on Sept. 12.
The date was rescheduled and moved to a different venue last month due to
security concerns.