Crucifix antics fail to dampen Madonna mania in Rome

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2006

ROME (AFP) — Her on-stage antics with religious symbols may have riled believers the world over but Madonna's ticket sales in Roman Catholic Italy appear not to have suffered.

Not put off -- or perhaps on the contrary -- 70,000 fans came to see the enduring US pop diva perform on Sunday night in Rome's Olympic stadium, her first concert in the city for 16 years.

The original "Material Girl" gyrated on a saddle, called for world peace and performed her infamous crucifixion routine in which she sings wearing a crown of thorns and hitched to a wooden cross.

A giant screen also flashed images ranging from the Pope, Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden, US President George W. Bush, all the way to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Italian fascist dictator Benito...