Les Balsiger

In 1993, Roman Catholic Archbishop Michael Sheehan complained about billboards around Albuquerque, New Mexico that showed a caricature of the Pope with the words "a man of sin."[4] The bishop characterized the billboards, put up by Balsiger's Printed Page Ministries, as "anti-Catholic".[2][4] Balsiger denied he was anti-Catholic but refused to apologize for the billboards.[4]

Balsiger also attempted, but failed, to place anti-Catholic billboards in Denver, Colorado, during the Pope's visit there in 1993.[2] Balsiger said that his organization paid for 21 billboards to be shown in the Denver area during the Pope's visit.[2] The billboard company, Gannett Outdoors, refused to display any ads attacking the Pope or the Catholic Church.[2] "We paid the money, we have signed the contract, and now they have refused to put them up," said Balsiger.[2] "I don't want to be un-Christian about this, but this isn't the end of this matter. We could be on the courthouse steps (today)," he said.[2] The billboards would have shown a toll-free telephone number, an image of the Pope waving, and the message: "The Bible says, 'The man of sin shall be revealed,' II Thessalonians 2:3."[2] Balsiger said that he would get a court injunction upholding the contract so that the billboards would be displayed while he fought the Gannett anti-defamation policy.[2]

Balsiger, who is linked to other Historic Adventist anti-Catholic groups, claimed the anti-Catholic movement has a national following of about 400,000 people.[1][5][6] Balsiger was also the publisher of a newspaper, The Protestant, and he opened a training school in Hungary to build up his work in Eastern Europe.[1]