“Whoever votes for Armin Laschet and the CDU, votes for … ultra-Catholic Laschet confidants for whom sex before marriage is a taboo,” an ominious voice-over tells viewers, while a further Russian doll, bearing face the face of a close aide to Laschet, is revealed from inside the bigger doll.
The aide is a 35-year-old Catholic in charge of the Laschet’s office in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia by name of Nathanael Liminski. As a practicing Catholic, Liminski in 2010 defended the Church’s views on pre-marital sex and homosexuality in a TV show. He also co-founded the group “Generation Benedict” following World Youth Day 2005. (The organisation changed its name to “Pontifex Initiative” after Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation from office).
In response to the video clip, the German Bishops’ Conference called for a fair election campaign. “We consider the way in which the election commercial deals with the expression of a religious conviction to be inappropriate,” a spokesman of the conference told media. A parliamentarian and spokesman for religious affairs of the CDU, Hermann Gröhe, also weighed in, accusing the SPD of stoking up anti-Catholic sentiment.
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