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Dutch bishop threatens to take legal action against adult film company for shooting porn in church

St. Joseph's church in Tilburg. | Wikimedia Commons/Reino Baptista

The diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands has announced on Thursday that it will be pressing charges against an adult film company for shooting a pornographic scene inside one of its churches.

The scene was shot by adult film producer Paul Visser inside a confessional at St. Joseph's Church in Tilburg. After the film went public, residents sent angry emails to Dutch porn star Kim Holland, who owned the company that produced the film, prompting her to apologize.

"For Peter [Visser], as a non-believer, the church was a very ordinary place," Holland explained, according to Church Militant. "He completely underestimated the reaction from commenters. He knows he should not have done it," she added.

The film, which was reportedly shot about a month ago, has since been removed from Holland's website.

Father Jan van Noorwegen, pastor of St. Joseph's, said that nobody saw anything when the scene was filmed.

"I do not know how they got in. The gate is only open a few hours a day," said the pastor.

"But then there are always people in the church. No one saw anything," he added.

A spokesman for the diocese said that the sex acts in the confessional constitute desecration. A mass of reparation was offered at the church on Sunday, and the building will be reconsecrated and sprinkled with holy water.

Bishop Gerard de Korte, head of the diocese, has met with a lawyer, the auxiliary bishop, and the vicar general on Thursday, but it is not yet clear what charges will be filed against Holland's production company.

Holland also received backlash when it was revealed that her company shot a porn film in Walibi Amusement Park in October. The video reportedly featured a couple secretly having sex on a number of rides including the Crazy River and the Ferris wheel.

A spokesman for the theme park also threatened to take legal action against the adult film company.

St. Joseph's is one of the 18 churches in the city of Tilburg, in the diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch. Over half the population in the city identifies as Catholic, but only 1.9 percent regularly attend mass, who are mostly over the age of 65. Only one percent of the total population in Netherlands are practicing Catholics.