July 11, 2012
Bonn, Germany, Jul
11, 2012 / 04:10 pm (CNA).-
A German magazine must stop publishing its latest issue, which depicts Pope
Benedict XVI in a urine- and feces-stained cassock, a district court in Hamburg
ruled on June 10.
The German Bishops'
Conference, which took legal action against “Titanic” magazine with the
permission of the Vatican's Secretary of State, welcomed the decision.
Conference spokesman Matthias Kopp said the image “oversteps every measure of
decency.”
On the front cover of its July issue, Titanic mocked the
Pope, and the recent “Vatileaks” scandal involving security breaches and
confidential documents, with an image that showed him wearing urine-stained
clothing. The headline read: “Hallelujah in the Vatican: The leak has been
found!”
The image on the back
cover had been altered to show a brown stain on the back of his traditional
white cassock, with the caption reading: “Another leak is found!”
Existing issues of
the magazine will not have to be recalled under the terms of the court's
temporary injunction. New copies, however, cannot be published.
Titanic's editor, Leo
Fischer, says he intends to fight on against Tuesday's decision, which he said
was a “huge mistake.” The magazine has been sued 55 times over its cover
images, 35 of which have been banned.
Fischer has stated
that Pope Benedict “must have misunderstood” the front cover image, which he
said showed the Pope spilling a drink on himself in excitement over solving the
Vatileaks mystery.
“Everyone knows how
much the Pope likes Fanta,” Fischer said.
Titanic's website has
replaced the blocked images with a picture of the Pope in a clean cassock,
carrying two large bottles of orange soda. The new caption reads: “'Titanic'
forbidden – Pope intoxicated with joy!”
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