Prosecutors in Holland have told reporters that a 63 year old priest has confessed to phoning in a fake bomb threat to the Amsterdam venue that hosted two Madonna concerts earlier this month. The priest hoped his bomb threat would cause the concert to be cancelled, and therefore prevent the singer from performing that controversial sequence in which she appears on stage on a crucifix. However, the call was immediately traced to the priest's home and identified as a hoax, so the two concerts went ahead.
The routine has, of course, caused protests from religious groups all over the world although none of the them have so far managed to stop the concert going ahead, or had any real impact on Madonna's ticket sales. Both Amsterdam dates went ahead as planned despite the priest's bomb threat and a handful of protestors standing outside the concert.
Prosecutors confirmed on Friday that the priest had been identified and arrested soon after he made the hoax call, and added that while making bomb threats was quite a serious offence, prosecutors would seek a community service punishment for the priest as it was most likely to be a first offence. Their spokesman, Robert Meulenbroek, told reporters: "He was hoping to stop her from performing her famous 'crucifixion' act. We take bomb threats seriously, but in this case it was clear very quickly that it was not real".