Controversy over the Merced poster: the archbishopric says it "ridiculs" the Virgin.
The City Council defends the author's creative freedom and denies that he was inspired by religious motives.

The Archdiocese of Barcelona did not like the poster for the 2025 La Mercè Festival. In a statement released Tuesday, the diocese lamented that the poster, designed by set designer and film director Lluís Danés, "irreverently uses various religious forms with the intention of ridiculing the image of the Virgin Mary."
Although less than a week ago, at the presentation of the poster, it was explained that it was an illustration to pay tribute to traveling theater and that it was intended to capture the essence "of a Mercè who is closely linked to the world of acting and performance," the archbishopric criticizes that "the feelings of those who venerate" around her are violated. As Danés himself explained, the objective was to represent "the creative and diverse vision of Mercè" in the poster.
Creative freedom
The archbishopric's statement insists that, while accepting "that the City Council wants to give an exclusively secular tone to the festival," they wish to express "surprise at the fact that every year the poster introduces the use of religious elements," this year with the reference to an altarpiece and a crown that, they say, "alludes to the Virgin of Mercy."
The archbishopric maintains that the Virgin of Mercy is also the patron saint of the diocese and the ecclesiastical province of Barcelona and that they "trust" that this year the pontifical mass will be included in the official program of the festival.
Sources at Barcelona City Council assure that the council defends "the creative freedom of the author" and insists that "under no circumstances has it been inspired by any religious motif or figure in designing the poster." They also recall the artist's explanation of how he created the poster, in which Danés explains that the work "does not aim to convey any closed or exclusive message" and that "there are no dogmas or ambiguous symbols."