Romanian Orthodox Church in Snit Fit Over Posters Depicting Doctors As Saints

The city of Bucharest was enlivened the other day by large posters (1, 2, 3) saying thank you to doctors and nurses who’d been putting themselves in harm’s way by treating patients with COVID-19.

If you think that’s a lovely gesture that no one could possibly dislike, say hello to my little friend religion.

Posters depicting nurses and doctors on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic as saints are “blasphemous” and an insult to Christian iconography, Romania’s Orthodox Church claims.

Somehow, the church says the billboards are also insulting to medical personnel. Vasile Banescu, a spokesman for the holy rollers, explains that the poster campaign is a disservice to

“… the very honorable profession of doctors who, like all of us, do not think they are saints or improvised saviors and do not demand a public cult.”

He slammed the comic-book-style illustrated art — which shows a doctor wearing a halo-like headpiece and holding a stethoscope — as a “visual mistreatment of Christian iconography.” He also said it promotes a “dystopian vision” of the pandemic.

I suspect that these Bible babblers just hate the competition. They think their clan deserves a monopoly on veneration.

Even if the Almighty were real, Banescu would be hard-pressed to deny that his God currently does jack-all, while doctors and nurses work overtime to clean up His mess.

McCann Worldgroup, the local ad agency that created the posters, doesn’t understand the hubbub, insisting that they’re

“… a daring artistic choice but one which is in no way following a political, religious or any other kind of purpose. It’s a gesture of gratitude for doctors.”

Romania is a secular country — on paper. Four out of five Romanians support the Orthodox Church. And so, regrettably, the capital’s civil authorities are too timid to tell the yapping padres to take a hike.

Bucharest city hall said it plans to ask the firm to replace the posters with “images that bring homage to hero doctors without hurting the faith of passersby.”

According to the COVID stats on the Worldometers website, Romania currently has 11,339 active cases; 641 Romanians have died so far. Whether or not they know it, the patients who make it through have the men and women with the medical degrees to thank; not the truculent, self-important buffoons waving incense, holy books, and writs demanding we all bow down to their tender sensitivities.