Je suis not amused: Vatican slams anniversary edition of Charlie Hebdo magazine

The Vatican's official newspaper has accused the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of "genuine blasphemy" for its depiction of God in the anniversary edition of the attack on its offices in Paris. 

Hebdo has published more than one million copies of this week's edition with a picture of God on the front cover, carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, running away from the words: "One year on: the assassin is still out there".

In an editorial on Tuesday L'Osservatore Romano said: "Behind the deceptive flag of uncompromising secularism, the weekly is forgetting once more what religious leaders of every faith unceasingly repeat to reject violence in the name of religion - using God to justify hatred is a genuine blasphemy, as Pope Francis has said several times.

"In Charlie Hebdo's choice, there is the sad paradox of a world which is more and more sensitive about being politically correct, almost to the point of ridicule, yet does not wish to acknowledge or to respect believers' faith in God, regardless of the religion."

The L'Osservatore Romano article quoted Anouar Kbibech, president of the French council of the Muslim faith, who said that the drawing "harms all believers of different religions. It is a caricature that is unhelpful at a time when we need to come together side by side".

The French Conference of Catholic Bishops questioned whether this "sort of controversy was the kind of thing France needed," according to the article.

On 7 January last year two masked gunmen forced their way into the offices of the satirical magazine and killed 12 staff and wounded 11 others. Among the victims were most of the paper's controversial cartoonists, and two editors.

Prior to the attacks, the magazine sold around 30,000 copies a week. It now sells around 280,000 copies per edition and has recently moved into new offices. The editor continues to receive round the clock security protection. As recently as September the newspaper received 20 death threats for another controversial cover cartoon.

Speaking after the attacks on Charlie Hebdo's office, Pope Francis told reporters last January that while killing in the name of religion is fundamentally wrong, those that insult a religion should not be surprised if their insults provoke a physical reaction.

“One cannot make war [or] kill in the name of one’s own religion, that is, in the name of God,” Francis told reporters at the time. “To kill in the name of God is an aberration.”

That said, he also insisted that free speech does not imply total license to insult or offend another’s faith.

“One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people’s faith, one cannot make fun of faith,” the pope said, speaking in Italian.

“Every religion has its dignity … and I cannot make fun of it. In freedom of expression there are limits, like in regard to my mom.”