Catholic group rails against new 'South Park'

Profanity-laced animated TV series South Park has stirred up controversy once again with its latest episode.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights condemned this week's new episode of the provocative cartoon, which airs on Comedy Central in the U.S. and the Comedy Network in Canada.

The league charged that the religious-themed instalment entitled "Bloody Mary" "defiled the Virgin Mary."

The episode revolves around a nearby town's discovery that a statue of the Virgin Mary has begun bleeding. The event is dubbed a miracle and the people flock to see the statue, including Pope Benedict XVI, who ultimately pronounces that the statue is simply menstruating.

The conservative group was particularly insulted that the episode first aired on the day before the Catholic Church celebrated its Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In a statement issued Thursday, the group demanded that Viacom, Comedy Central's parent company, issue an apology to Roman Catholics and "a pledge that this episode be permanently retired and not be made available on DVD."

If the media company decides not to participate, the league is asking Viacom board member and "practising Catholic" Joseph A. Califano Jr. "to issue his own statement of condemnation," the league said.

Califano issued a response Friday, after viewing the segment in question.

"I found it an appalling and disgusting portrayal of the Virgin Mary. It is particularly troubling to me as a Roman Catholic that the segment has run on the eve and day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day for Roman Catholics," Califano said.

He added that he has called for a review of the show by Viacom president and chief executive Tom Freston.

Over the years, the ultra-conservative league has protested against a number of productions, including The Simpsons, Ally McBeal and a staging of award-winning playwright Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi. It has also opposed various media outlets that have published or aired articles and stories it considered anti-Catholic.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the two irreverent creators of the Emmy Award-winning South Park, have been both celebrated and condemned for their timely lampooning of current events and their challenges to prevailing American culture, taboos and morals. Past episodes have satirized Scientology, the Terri Schiavo case, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, the Elian Gonzalez custody battle, the frenzy over the release of Sony's PSP and Tom Cruise.

South Park, now it its ninth season, revolves around a group of foul-mouthed fourth graders living in a small town in Colorado.