25,000 people protested because of the latest provocation in France.

Two Catholic associations filed a complaint in court against Charlie Hebdo because of the Virgin Mary caricature published in the satirical paper. A petition has been launched to withdraw the offensive caricature. After the scandalous opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, this is the second serious anti-Christian provocation in France within a month.

According to the complaint filed against the cartoonist Pierrick Juin and Riss, the editor of Charlie Hebdo, the newspaper "timed the cartoon immediately after the religious holiday of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary".

"The caricature was published after the feast of a saint," the complainants emphasize, "who defines the identity of Christians all over the world."

As reported by 20minutes.fr, Charlie Hebdo's caricature published on August 16 depicts the Virgin Mary of Lourdes "covered with the symptoms of monkeypox and insulted with the words 'slut, sow, whore, whore, liar'" - quotes the complainants to the AFP. (August 15th is the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the ed.)

The caption of the cartoon, which purports to depict the emergence of monkeypox in Europe, also contains a factual error, since the disease had already appeared in Sweden.

The scene of an apparition of the Virgin Mary, the Massabielle cave near Lourdes in the Pyrenees is an important place of pilgrimage; St. II. On the initiative of Pope John Paul II, February 11, the day of the first apparition of Our Lady in Lourdes, is also the World Day of the Sick. The caricature also depicts the statue of the Virgin Mary at the memorial site in Lourdes, associated with the well-known location of the apparition in connection with the disease.

Charlie Hebdo's management declined to comment when contacted by the news agency.

After the cartoon was published, the French Christian news site Tribune chrétienne condemned the "unwarranted incitement of hatred against Catholics in France" and launched a petition to withdraw the cartoon because it is "offensive, inflammatory and specifically incites hatred against the Catholic community," the plaintiffs added.

In connection with blasphemy (blasphemy), Father Alexis Cerquera Trujillo, who was spoken to by the paper, emphasized that by depicting the symptoms of monkeypox in a rough way, the paper also portrays sick people as "sows, whores".

Tribunechretienne.com has published a petition online, addressed to "all respectable believers", "whether Catholic or not".

"An attack against one of the holiest figures of the Catholic faith cannot go unanswered," they insist. "It is a strong act to say: freedom of expression cannot be an excuse to attack what we consider sacred. In addition to the protection of sacred symbols, this also means: we do not accept that the image of femininity is subjected to such insults," the document states.

More than 25,000 people have already signed the petition, which continues to receive new signatures, by Wednesday afternoon, according to the petition's website, which was also cited by Valeurs Actuelles.

AFP adds: at the end of July, Catholic bodies already voiced their indignation over the "scenes that mocked and ridiculed Christianity" during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris.

The French news agency recalls "the scene referring to the painting depicting the last supper of Jesus with the apostles, featuring several transvestites."

Híradó.hu

Cover image: Charlie Hebdo defamed the Virgin Mary this time
Source: X