Two Catholic associations filed a complaint in Paris on Tuesday against Charlie Hebdo for “incitement and provocation of religious hatred” following the publication on August 16 of a caricature of the Virgin Mary, according to the text of the complaint that AFP was able to consult.
This drawing, published by the satirical weekly the day after the religious feast of the Assumption, represented the Virgin Mary, “a female figure of identification for Christians around the world”, made up with symptoms of mpox “and insulted as ‘slut’, ‘pig’, ‘slut’, ‘whore’ and ‘liar'”, explain the plaintiffs.
An online petition with 25,000 signatures already
The cartoon was captioned “Monkey pox: first appearance of the virus in Europe”, while a case of mpox had been reported in Sweden. The complaint was filed with the Paris judicial court by the associations “Marie de Nazareth” and “La petite Voie”, publisher of the website tribunechretienne.com, against the cartoonist Pierrick Juin and against Riss, director of publication of Charlie Hebdo.
Contacted by AFP, the management of Charlie Hebdo did not wish to respond. After the publication of the caricature, Tribune chrétienne had already denounced a “gratuitous incitement to hatred towards Catholics in France” and launched a petition to obtain the removal of this caricature deemed “insulting, inciting and explicitly provoking hatred towards the Catholic community,” the plaintiffs added.
This petition has received nearly 25,000 signatures, they specify. The caricature had also been strongly denounced by certain religious figures, notably the Bishop of Bayonne Marc Aillet who had stated on the social network X that “freedom of expression cannot justify such an abject caricature.”
The plaintiffs assert that “although criticism of religions is permitted, satire or caricature cannot become the vehicle for gratuitous and offensive attacks on religious beliefs, thus risking provoking tensions within society or violence against the faithful.”
Already at the end of July, Catholic authorities were outraged by “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity” during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, in reference to a painting featuring several drag queens and reminiscent of the Last Supper, the last meal of Jesus with his apostles.