The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, has condemned the image depicted on Charlie Hebdo’s anniversary cover.
Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine, which was the victim of a tragic mass shooting this time last year, recently unveiled the cover of its anniversary edition which showed a God-like figure covered in blood with a gun strapped to his back.
In a short column in the L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper quotes Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Council of Muslin Faith, saying an image like this hurts all believers and is not helpful.
It’s not a new thing, says the newspaper, and using God and religion to try and justify violence is “blasphemy”.
The text is in Italian, which you can read here on page two, otherwise news company Reuters has translated the short commentary, reporting it saying: “Behind the deceptive flag of an uncompromising secularism, the French weekly once again forgets what religious leaders of every faith have been urging for ages – to reject violence in the name of religion and that using God to justify hatred is a genuine blasphemy.
“Charlie Hebdo‘s move shows the sad paradox of a world which is increasingly sensitive about being politically correct to the point of being ridiculous … but does not want to recognise or respect believers’ faith in God, regardless of their religion.”