Playboy model Marisa Papen has been arrested for an unorthodox naked photoshoot inside the Vatican. The poses included her being tied to a cross and sitting naked on a stack of bibles at St Peter’s Square.
Photographs from the controversial shoot include ones of Papen dragging a large wooden crucifix across the street and ones of her tied to the cross.
“I’m right in the middle of putting on my pants when suddenly 2 Polizia cars drive rapidly towards us. Another 4 cops approach us running. Holding their batons firmly. ‘Passport please!!!!!’” Papen wrote on her blog.
Papen was arrested along with Australian photographer Jesse Walker moments after posing naked on the bibles, and the pair were detained for 10 hours. After they were released, authorities searched their Airbnb rental and found a wooden cross, a thorn crown, fake blood, and other religious-themed props.
This isn’t the first time the model and her photographer have found themselves behind bars for controversial photoshoots. She was arrested in Egypt for posing naked at the Karnak Temple Complex, and caused outrage for flashing her vagina while wearing a burqa inside the Hagia Sophia mosque in Turkey. She also posed naked in front of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
Papen sees no problem with posing naked at religious sites and believes religious institutions “are driven by money and are soulless,” and cases of clerical sexual abuse.
“Imagine if the Vatican would be a place that would actually help people. Imagine if all these huge churches would open their doors for people in need. To feed them and give them shelter. A real place of light, love and warmth,” Papen wrote after her Vatican experience.
