University Professor in Austria Calls for Death Penalty for Pope

Case information
Incident date
Country
Austria
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Morals
Perpetrator / Motive Indicators
  • Private
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Insult or Incitement

During Christmas holidays 2012, Austrialian born Richard Parncutt, professor for music sciences at the Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz, issued the official University website to call for death penalty for the pope as a punishment for opposing artifical birth control and condoms. The university deleted the comments and summoned Prof. Parncutt to a disciplinary meeting: “Safeguarding human rights belong to the most important principles of the University of Graz.” The professor apologized.