STA, 2 June 2022 - Murska Sobota Bishop Peter Štumpf has banned video shoots in all local churches over a music video shot in a Murska Sobota church that the diocese found to be disrespectful. Unofficially, the star in the video is pop singer Nika Zorjan, who hails from Murska Sobota and at one point in the video dances in the church wearing red boots.
A statement by the Slovenian Bishops' Conference that was published on Thursday reads that the ban has been put in place over a video featuring a Slovenian singer that was recorded in St Nicholas Church in Murska Sobota, but does not reveal the name of the singer. Because of its content, the video should not have been shot in a religious venue and violates its holiness and the holy purpose of the church, it adds.
Any recordings in churches and chapels that fall under the Murska Sobota diocese or publications of them in the media are banned until further notice, with the exception of those dedicated to religious services.
The statement also reads that the video propagated negative stereotypes and ridiculed the sacrament of marriage, priests and faith as an important value. The diocese regrets that the church was desecrated due to a lack of caution on the part of those responsible, and apologises to believers.
The local news portal pomurec.com reported that the singer in question is likely Zorjan, a popular pop singer and former reality show contestant who recently released a music video for her latest song titled 1, 2, 3. The video was partly shot in St Nicholas Church.
Zorjan is at first wearing a white wedding dress but after realising she has been stood up at the altar she replaces it with a country girl outfit: a jeans shorts, a tied-up flannel shirt that reveals her belly button and red boots. Wearing this, she dances in the church, prompting the priest who was supposed to officiate her wedding to do the same. Later in the video, she is also riding a mechanical bull. The priest also has a go at the bucking machine.
