Demonstrators believed to be paid activists for the leftist feminist group Femen — including a group of topless, rowdy women — stormed a recent meeting at the Catholic St. Michael’s College in Brussels, took over the stage and threw a pie in the face of Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard.
The incident began Oct. 11 when Christine Boutin, a politician with the French Christian Democratic Party who opposes same-sex marriage, spoke at a podium onstage while the archbishop sat nearby. In a video posted by LifeSiteNews, the group of women disrupted and accosted Miss Boutin, hugging and kissing her while draping her with a rainbow flag, a pro-gay symbol.
While several people attempted to make the women leave the stage, a man approached the distracted archbishop and smeared a pie in his face before also being forcibly removed.
The incident isn’t the first time the group has targeted the archbishop, who has drawn their ire for his views on homosexuality.
In April, group members interrupted his speech at another university in Brussels, dousing him with water and yelling slogans in support of the gay-rights movement, LifeSiteNews reported. The archbishop sat and prayed quietly through the ordeal.
His reaction to the pie assault was similarly low-key. He reportedly smiled calmly — and tasted the pie.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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