POP/ROCK - July 6, 1990

Ciao, Madonna: Italians may have loved Madonna’s “Who’s That Girl” tour a few years ago, but the Italian-American singer’s current tour has incurred the wrath of Italy’s Catholic establishment. Prominent Catholics have branded the “Blonde Ambition” concerts as offensive, and have started a campaign to stop Madonna’s tour from reaching Rome and Turin next week. The Catholic news agency SIR, which reflects opinions of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, knocked Madonna’s use of crucifixes and sacred symbols in concerts and videos. And the Catholic lobby group, Famiglia Domani (The Family Tomorrow), said that it had written to the cardinal of Rome, Ugo Poletti, asking him to “stop this shameful spectacle taking place in Rome--a city dear to millions of Catholics.”