Vatican calls blasphemy on ‘Charlie Hebdo’ provocation
Paper’s cover shows God toting a rifle and spattered in blood
The Vatican’s newspaper criticized French weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday for the magazine’s latest front page, which depicts a blood-streaked God armed with a Kalashnikov.
The controversial cover commemorates a year since the terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters in Paris, which left 12 people dead and led to a global debate on religious extremism and freedom of speech.
“One year later, the assassin is still on the run,” reads the black and white front page that shows a cartoon depicting a violent God.
The Vatican turned to its daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, to blast Charlie Hebdo’s decision in an unsigned editorial titled “Manipulated faith.”
“The French weekly once again forgets what religious leaders of every affinity have been repeating for some time, to reject violence in the name of religion,” it said, describing the satirical publication’s move as blasphemous.
“The choice of Charlie Hebdo shows the sad paradox of a world increasingly more careful of being ‘politically correct,’ to the point of being almost ridiculous … but that doesn’t want to recognize and respect the faith in God of every believer, whichever religion they practice,” the editorial in L’Osservatore Romano read.
The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo stands in stark contrast to the edition published in the aftermath of the attack. That issue featured an illustration of the prophet Mohammed crying under a headline that read, “All is forgiven.”
Two gunmen stormed the magazine’s offices Jan. 7, 2015, shooting staffers in an attack that was claimed by Yemen’s al- Qaeda branch.
After that attack, Pope Francis said freedom of expression was a “fundamental human right” and stressed that killing in the name of God was an unacceptable “aberration.” He also took issue with Charlie
Hebdo’s anti-religious stance.
“You can’t provoke, you can’t insult the faith of others, you can’t make fun of faith,” he said during an Asian tour.
The Vatican issued a statement later that said the pope’s comments were not intended as a justification for the attacks.
“The French weekly once again forgets what religious leaders of every affinity have been repeating for some time, to reject violence in the name of religion,”
L’Osservatore Romano