Dutch priest admits to phoning in bomb threat to Madonna

Prosecutors in the Netherlands say a priest has confessed to phoning in a fake bomb threat to a Madonna concert in Amsterdam to try to prevent the singer from performing her crucifixion act.

"He was hoping to stop her," Robert Meulenbroek, a spokesman from the prosecutor's office, said Friday.

In her latest concert tour, the 48-year-old pop star is pinned against a giant glass cross, her attempt to re-enact the crucifixion of Christ. The performance offended some Christians in earlier concerts in Italy and Germany.

Meulenbroek said the priest was arrested almost immediately after making the threats on Sunday. From his home, he phoned the emergency services number where the call was traced right away.

The priest appeared before a judge Friday and has been released pending judgment.

"We take bomb threats seriously, but in this case, it was clear very quickly it was not real," said Meulenbroek, who said prosecutors would likely ask for a punishment of community service because it was the priest's first offence.

Publicity stunt 'reprehensible'

Christian groups had been urging the government tostop Madonna's concerts. Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner rejected a call by a Christian party tohalt the singer from carrying out that portion of her act.

Donner said Madonna's publicity-grabbing ploy was "reprehensible" but he didn't think hurting the feelings of Christians constituted blasphemy.

The two concerts in Amsterdam went ahead on Sunday and Monday.

Religious leaders in Rome also condemned the pop star for her crucifixion routine while German prosecutors monitored her concert in Duesseldorf in mid-August. They did not launch criminal charges, as they had threatened to do.

Madonna, who was raised aRomanCatholic, has made a career out of provocative performances. Her representatives have said the scene is not disrespectful to the church.