BRAZIL BANS GODARD’S ‘HAIL, MARY’

President Jose Sarney, responding to appeals from Brazil’s Roman Catholic bishops, has banned the public showing of Jean Luc Godard’s controversial film “Hail, Mary.”

The ban brought heavy criticism from many Brazilian intellectuals who object to censorship by a civilian, democratically elected government. Only weeks after taking office,the Sarney government said it would abolish political and cultural censorship laws imposed by military governments.

The Godard film, which is a modern treatment of the biblical story of Jesus and Mary, was publicly denounced by Brazil’s Conference of Bishops as offensive to Roman Catholics.

Justice Minister Fernando Lyra, who saw the film in private, said it was “beautiful.” But Sarney, who is a poet and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, said he did not want to offend “the sensibilities of the religion of the majority in Brazil.”

Brazil is the most populous Roman Catholic country in the world.