---

• n  blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character
• n  degradation of something worthy of respect; cheapening

• A commentator on Vatican Radio blasted the Managua shouting match as a "profanation of the sacred Mass" and a "maladroit propagandistic manipulation.
• Some Latino envoysnotably the uninvitedmuttered sourly that the'affair was a "profanation" of the OAS building, but Nicaraguan Ambassador Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa.
• It was as great a sacrilege to devout Muslims as an attack on Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre would be to Christians, or a profanation of the Wailing Wall would be to .

• desecration
• blasphemy
• sacrilege

Quotes

---

• Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in AFP
  The profanation of the mosque and the torching of Koran copies found in it, and the spraying of racist graffiti slogans on the mosque's walls against Islam and Muslims represent a blatant aggression against the sanctity of sacred places,OIC...
• Pope Benedict XVI in International Herald Tribune
  Not a few people - especially the young - are attracted to a false exaltation, or rather, a profanation of the body and the trivialization of sexuality,Benedict said. "In other words, even in Rome one feels this deficit of hope and faith...
• Pope Paul VI in Times Online
  In his New Year's Eve homily on Monday the Pope warned that because of a "deficit of hope" young people in the Western world were seeking sexual gratification and "profanation of the body" at the expense of spiritual and family values.