Catholic Church and theatre

Many bishops, priests, and monks have strongly condemned theatrical amusements, and they even declared the actors to be "instruments of Satan", "a curse to the Church", and "beguiling unstable souls"[when?].

In the United States in the 19th century, actors endured the Church’s antitheatrical attacks, which included "social humiliations, aggressive animosity toward their profession and their lowly reputation.

The theatre was affected financially as well because in "many areas, townspeople were scared away from viewing the performances under the Church’s influence, and the difficulty in attracting audiences resulted in inability to pay actors living wages and forced some to abandon their professions.

"Noah Ludlow had to flee home to pursue his dream in theatre which his parents disapproved of, and even much later when he got married, his wife’s family pressured him to abandon his career on stage.

When King Louis XIV directly intervened, the Archbishop of Paris allowed Molière to be buried only after sunset among the suicides’ and paupers’ graves with no requiem masses permitted in the Church.