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I find this a repulsive image and to my mind it is without merit as Art. But I think that way about a lot of contemporary art. Whether that art should be suppressed because I and others are offended or repulsed by it is another matter - I am inclined to think not.

At least this horrible image has provoked people into talking about the cross, and looking at the cross, and debating the meaning of the cross, for Christians and for the secular world. In Europe the cross may no longer be displayed in school classrooms. Images such as this, and the controversy they cause, remind a secular population what the cross means to Christians. I think that has a positive side.

What Rcesq says is true - it is highly unlikely that art work denigrating Islam would be permitted in a public gallery. People are too scared of being blown to pieces. I would not want that kind of motivation for censorship to apply to Christian imagery.

The Vatican response was quite reasonable and, I think, accurate. The Vatican letter said that the work "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love."

I would not call that an overreaction.