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Filipino artist Carlos Celdran, convicted of blasphemy against the Catholic Church, dies aged 46
- Celdran staged a protest in Manila Cathedral after the church opposed a law allowing Filipinos access to family planning education and contraceptives
- He went into self-exile after his appeal against his conviction was turned down by the Supreme Court in 2018
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The only Filipino to be convicted of blasphemy in the Philippine republic’s history died last week in self-exile in Spain. Carlos Celdran, 46, succumbed to an aneurysm in Madrid, according to his cousin, Anita Celdran.
After working in Manila as an artist and tour guide, he became famous on September 30, 2010, when he walked into a Catholic Church event in Manila Cathedral and held up a sign bearing just one word: Damaso.
It was the name of a rapacious and libidinous Spanish friar in a novel written in 1887 by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal. Celdran, wearing a costume popularly associated with Rizal, demanded the church refrain from interfering in politics.
Before that, Celdran had been lobbying in support of a reproductive health law allowing Filipinos access to family planning education and contraceptives. The law was and remains bitterly opposed by the country’s conservative Catholic hierarchy.
Church officials were not amused by Celdran’s stunt. He spent the night in a Manila jail cell and was charged with violating the obscure Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code.
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