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Posted on 11/17/2011 8:47:55 AM PST by SeekAndFind
ROME – The Vatican said Thursday it would take legal action against Benetton after the Italian fashion label used a photo purportedly showing Pope Benedict XVI kissing a leading imam in a publicity campaign.
The Vatican "has instructed its lawyers, in Italy and abroad, to take appropriate action" to prevent the circulation of the image, including in the mass media, it said in a statement.
The image offended "not only the dignity of the Pope and the Catholic Church, but also the sensibilities of believers," the statement added.
The picture, used in the company's "Unhate" publicity campaign, showed the pope embracing one of Islam's leading figures, Ahmed Mohamed el Tayeb, the imam of the al Azhar mosque in Egypt.
The Egyptian mosque described the image Thursday as "irresponsible and absurd," AFP reported.
In fact, so absurd was the concept that the al Azhar "is still hesitating as to whether it should issue a response," a spokesman for Tayeb said.
The Vatican said Wednesday that it was outraged by the picture. It expressed "the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in a publicity campaign with commercial ends."
The Italian company has said it would pull the photo. It was "sorry that the use of the image had so hurt the sensibilities of the faithful ... The point of this campaign was solely to battle the culture of hate in all its forms," a statement said.
In other "Unhate" photos, US President Barack Obama locks lips with China's Hu Jintao and with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu smooches Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I don’t understand it. After looking at these pictures I have an irresistible urge to buy ugly overpriced clothes.
Drudge also has a pic of 0zer0 putting a lip-lock on Hugo-a-gogo. Bizarre.
Have to question Benetton’s motives about the whole unhate theme here.
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The Pope's. The goal is to save souls, not corrupt your own.
Is the picture photoshopped, or is it real, and was used w’out permission?
Yep....and the homosexualization of children continues..... Can’t breed them, so they will normalize homosexual activity as they continue to market it directly to children in MTV and all MSM. Constant bombardment of the subject starting in Kindergarten will normalize that behavior, which is their plan.
It does two things. Creates Penn State type kiddies and destroys Christianity and the Bible in the minds of the brainwashed.
They want to recreate pagan Greece and Rome where little children are also sexual objects—Sex Ed in public schools is the vehicle to sexualize children. It was designed by Herbert Marcuse and his cultural Marxists friends.
Revolting.
Why didn’t Benetton just go all the way and do Jesus and Mo? Because they are chicken shits and know what the islamaniacs would do.
Every last one of these people should take legal action.
"hate" = code word for opposition to the Progressive agenda.
You will NEVER see a Progressive use the word "hate" to describe the actions of a Jihadi, or the violent actions of some anarchist.
Caption the picture:
“Can’t We Just Be Friends?”
Photoshopped.
Thanks for that information. I didn’t realize it was legal to photoshop this type of image and use it for commercial gain. Do you have a link that explains how and why Benneton did it? What, if you know, is the general legal consensus over this? Is it speculated that Benneton is going to lose their shirts in defamation suits, or are they going to be difficult to sue?
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