The Vatican was not pleased. But in grand Charlie Hebdo tradition, the cover is equal-opportunity-offender as the god is non-denominational.
Some people were offended by it, others decided to look the other way and say that this is the way Charlie Hebdo operates.
An op-ed from Laurent Sourisseau — known as Riss — who heads Charlie Hebdo, defends the cover saying that Charlie Hebdo is the only atheist paper in France.
“Fanatics brainwashed by the Koran,” and “bigots from other faiths,” are among those who wanted to see the cartoonists dead he writes, but he goes on to say that the fact that the paper is still alive a year after jihadists decimated their staff is proof that “the convictions of atheists and secular people can move more mountains that the faith of believers.”
There is also a cartoon by Catherine Meurisse that takes after "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci. It shows the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists gathered around a long table with pencils and paper, and Stéphane Charbonnier — known as Charb — sitting at the center saying “Verily I say unto you, we’re going to have a lot more laughs together for a long time.”
There was a huge slip up on the official side of commemorations this week. The memorial plaque affixed to the building that housed the offices of Charlie Hebdo bears the name of the victims. But there was a typo in veteran cartoonist Georges Wolinski’s name. It was spelled "Wolinsky."
Wolinski's widow was not amused, but the spelling error created a buzz on twitter and a new hashtag, #JeSuisCharly (as opposed to #JeSuisCharlie). Many twitter users remarked that the cartoonists themselves would have been amused by this national faux-pas.
Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Jean Cabu, who was among the dead last year was memorialized on the front page of the investigative and satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné.
The headline read: “Cabu, honored by the government! Celebrated by the army! Sung by Johnny Hallyday, the singer he loved to hate!”
Le Canard was poking fun of the fact that Cabu rarely aligned himself with the government, was anti-military and made fun of veteran French rock singer Johnny Hallyday every chance he got.
The irony of those institutions (including the singer) celebrating someone who never adhered to their beliefs was duly noticed by Le Canard Enchaîné.
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