Pope to sue German magazine for ‘Vatileaks’
11 July 2012 7:40 AM IST
A German magazine on Tuesday said that Pope Benedict XVI was preparing to sue it for publishing a cover satirising the ‘Vatileaks’ leaked-documents scandal that has rocked the Vatican.
Titanic magazine's July edition featured a picture of the German-born pontiff with a yellow stain on his white cassock and the headline: ‘The leak has been found.’ Titanic then published on its home page a copy of a letter sent by Archbishop Angelo Becciu to a German lawyer in Benedict's name asking him to take ‘the necessary legal steps against this publication.’
‘The Holy Father tasks you to institute proceedings against this violation of his personal rights,’ the letter added. The magazine's editor Leo Fischer said in a statement: ‘Benedict must have misunderstood us.’ He said the cover showed a pope who had accidentally spilled a soft drink over his cassock in his exuberance.
A spokeswoman for a regional court in Hamburg said authorities had banned further publication of the image.
Titanic magazine's July edition featured a picture of the German-born pontiff with a yellow stain on his white cassock and the headline: ‘The leak has been found.’ Titanic then published on its home page a copy of a letter sent by Archbishop Angelo Becciu to a German lawyer in Benedict's name asking him to take ‘the necessary legal steps against this publication.’
‘The Holy Father tasks you to institute proceedings against this violation of his personal rights,’ the letter added. The magazine's editor Leo Fischer said in a statement: ‘Benedict must have misunderstood us.’ He said the cover showed a pope who had accidentally spilled a soft drink over his cassock in his exuberance.
A spokeswoman for a regional court in Hamburg said authorities had banned further publication of the image.
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