Vatican vows action over fake Pope kissing pic

People look at photo montages of a new ad campaign of Italian clothing company Benetton in their shop in front of the Trevi fountain in Rome on Nov. 16, 2011. / GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican says it will take legal action against the Benetton clothing company to prevent the publication of an ad featuring a fake photo montage of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a top Egyptian imam on the lips.

The Vatican said in a statement Thursday the image is "offensive not only to the dignity of the pope and the Catholic Church, but also to the sensibilities of believers."

Benetton withdrew the ad immediately after its debut Wednesday once the Vatican denounced it as an unacceptable provocation.

Benetton had said its "Unhate" campaign launched Wednesday was aimed at fostering tolerance and "global love."

The campaign's fake photos feature a half-dozen purported political nemeses in lip-locked embraces, including President Barack Obama and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

The photo of the pope kissing Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of Cairo's al-Azhar institute, the pre-eminent theological school of Sunni Islam, had been on Benetton's website all day but was removed about an hour after the Vatican's protest.

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Benetton's Unhate Ad Campaign

Al-Azhar suspended interfaith talks with the Vatican earlier this year after Benedict called for greater protections for Egypt's minority Christians.

A Benetton spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that the pope-imam ad was no longer part of the campaign.

It wasn't clear if the ad had been published anywhere; on Wednesday images from the campaign were unfurled briefly in Milan, New York, Paris, Tel Aviv and Rome but were quickly taken away.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi called the ad an "unacceptable" manipulation of the pope's likeness that offended the religious sentiments of the faithful.

"It shows a serious lack of respect for the pope," Lombardi said in a statement that warned that the Vatican was studying measures to protect the pontiff's image.

Shock ads have long been a part of Benetton's publicity strategy, with photographer Oliviero Toscani's famous campaigns featuring death row inmates and people dying of AIDS.

Benetton said the photos of political and religious leaders kissing were "symbolic images of reconciliation — with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation — to stimulate reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, when they are divergent and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation."

In a statement, the Treviso, Italy-based clothing manufacturer said it was sorry that its image had offended the faithful and that as a result "we have decided with immediate effect to withdraw this image from every publication."

[OrangPuteh]

We should give all due respect to the dignity of the pope and the Catholic Church. That is ZERO RESPECT, because none is due.

Why does faith deserve respect?

Watch this brief, thoughful video by Pat Condell. It's funny!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f7a_1184871139

[jjoe57]

Commenting strictly from an advertising perspective, I care less about the shock value of these ads and more with their lack of relevance to selling Italian clothing. But then I've seen many TV commercials and print ads in our country with depictions having little relevance to the products being advertised.

[thomasmc1957]

Of course the Vatican objects. Hate is the only thing the Pedophile Church has left to offer.

[Jaylah54]

So I guess it's okay for the Catholic church to turn a blind eye to their priests sexually abusing children, but OMG, a mock-up photo of the Pope kissing another leader in an attempt to make a point about world peace???? Terrible!

[hsinco-2009]

I agree!

[seewhatimselling]

You hit the nail on the head- Maybe he should have been kissing someone a bit younger?