Chile churns over Popetown TV show

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The pope is coming to Latin America. And the controversial animated series Popetown will remain on the TV airwaves in Chile.

Chile’s National Council of Television has refused to block programming of the parody program, known as Papavilla in Latin America and shown widely in the region on MTV, reports the Santiago daily El Mercurio.

Many Catholics have denounced the series as offensive, limiting its worldwide distribution, though Popetown is widely seen and commented upon in cyberspace.

The satirical sitcom features a juvenile pope who likes to bounce around on his pogo stick and watch horror films in a fictional Vatican City called Popetown. The principal character is the exasperated Father Nicholas, charged with the luckless task of papal damage control.

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to arrive in Brazil Wednesday for a five-day visit, his first trip as pope to the Americas. Catholics in Chile, where the church is known for its old-world conservatism, have sought to get Popetown off the airwaves.

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires