Cortegaça Parish threatens José Malhoa with a lawsuit for ″desecration″

Singer filmed the “She Wanted 3” music video inside and outside the church by default. Officials say there was “violation of religious space”. Diocese ask.

The parish of Cortegaça, in Ovar, will take legal action against the singer José Malhoa because he recorded the promotional video for the song “She wanted 3” “without authorization” from the church. In a statement published on social media, the institution expresses its indignation at the “disgraceful” way in which the artist and his production team used the Igreja Matriz de Cortegaça.

“To achieve greater gravity, which we consider a desecration of the interior space of our church, when a sacred place is used, for a satirical and immoral use, contempt of an entire community that lives in the Church of Cortegaça have reference and identity”, read-as in the text.

For the local pastor, Manuel Dias da Silva, the filming took place on July 18 and is “shameful and surreal”. “They insult the church, the priest and the parishioners,” he told JN.

Singer denies wrongdoing

“There is no offense and with the video we are doing enormous free publicity to the church and the environment”, José Malhoa said, adding that the song even talks about “Hail Mary and other religious themes”. Regarding who gave permission to film inside the temple, he limited himself to saying that “someone gave it”. “We did not break down the door to get in, nor did we rob the church,” he said.

The discomfort caused by the filming at the altar and in a confession led Canon António Coelho de Oliveira, Vicar General of the Diocese of Porto, to call the parish priest of Cortegaça to find out “if everything was in order” .

According to Salvador Malheiro, mayor of Ovar, the Municipality only authorized that recordings can be made in the churchyard.

“At the end of the video clip, there is a thank you to the Chamber, but it must be withdrawn because there is nothing to be grateful for. We only comply with the law and authorize recording outside the church”, explains the mayor. “Inside the church we do not send anything. We do not authorize and could not authorize anything,” he said.

used in good faith

The entrance to the temple, apparently, would have taken place after a member of the Malhoa staff asked a parishioner to open the door.

“The volunteer opened the door, as he does for tourists, and went to work,” explains the local parish priest. “It appears that they used good faith to record and film”, concluded Father Manuel Dias da Silva.