Year after Charlie Hebdo attack, France recalls and reflects

The Vatican newspaper strongly criticized French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo for its depiction of God as a terrorist on its cover calling it a “sad paradox” of a world that is politically correct nearly to the point of ridicule yet disrespects those who believe in God.

The cover featured a bloodstained, bearded God figure with a Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder under the headline: “One year on: the killer is still at large”.

A Vatican daily newspaper slammed Charlie Hebdo for its “disrespectful” anniversary edition cover.

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The magazine, the editorial argues, forgets that religious leaders of every faith reject violence in the name of religion. In Belgium AMP is now distributing on average 10,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo each week, compared to around 2,000 before the attack on the French satirical weekly.

Jihadist brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi gunned down eight Charlie staff as well as several others in and around the building in the assault, which began three days of terror in Paris.

“To kill in the name of God is an absurdity”, Pope Francis said.

In the January 7 attack on Charlie Hebdo, 11 artists, writers and editors and a police officer were killed.

The new issue includes an entire section dedicated to sketches made by the artists who died in the attack – Cabu, Wolinski, Charb, Tignous, Honoré – as well as various contributors unlinked to Charlie Hebdo.

A 35ft (10m) oak “remembrance tree” will be planted in the square and veteran French musician Johnny Hallyday will perform Un Dimanche de Janvier (One January Sunday), a song recalling the vast march in Paris that followed the attacks.

A survivors’ edition of the magazine released a week after the January attack sold a record 7.5 million copies.

The bloodshed stunned a nation that has become a prized target of militants and was again plunged into grief in November when 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks around Paris.

Many who came to buy the latest publication said they did so as an act of defiance. So we wanted to widen our vision of things. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, published a scathing commentary on the sketch earlier this week.