Berlin, Germany - A prominent Roman Catholic cardinal in Germany has expressed regret over his use of the term "degenerate" — a word associated with the Nazi persecution of artists — and said the criticism it attracted resulted from a misunderstanding.
Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, responded to critics in an article for the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The newspaper released the article on Tuesday, a day before its publication in the Wednesday edition.
Last week, Meisner warned in a sermon at the opening of a museum built on the ruins of Cologne's St. Kolumba church that it was dangerous to allow art to break away from religion.
"Let us not forget that there is an indisputable connection between culture and religion. Where culture is uncoupled from ... the worship of God, religion becomes moribund in rituals and culture degenerates," he said.
In German, the phrase "degenerate art," or "Entartete Kunst," carries deep associations with the Nazis' efforts to ban art that they viewed as running counter to their ideals. In 1937, they staged a notorious exhibit — titled "Entartete Kunst" — of art works that were deemed unacceptable.
Among other critics, Germany's main Jewish group said over the weekend that the cardinal's remarks went too far.
"I regret that this word, in the shortened form of the quotation removed from its context, gave grounds for misunderstanding," Meisner wrote.
He said he "used the term of degeneration, which was abused by Nazi ideology ... against this and all forms of totalitarian cultures, in order to mark them with their own vocabulary and expose them."
Meisner acknowledged other words could have been used to make his point. Rather than saying "culture degenerates," he suggested, he could have said "culture suffers serious damage."
Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of Germany's Central Council of Jews, welcomed Meisner's clarification as "a great step."