New Delhi: Saudi Arabia has banned the August issue of the magazine National Geographic whose cover features Pope Francis standing in the Sistine Chapel.
Pope Francis has won accolades worldwide for advancing a more tolerant version of Catholicism. His opinions on matters including climate change, divorce and on the brewing issue of refuges have made many feel that he is a revolutionary.
The issue in context here talks about ‘silent revolution' in the Vatican. The cover story addresses the reforms the Pope wishes to make and also his dream to build a church “that is poor for the poor.” The Saudi Arabian government has not yet confirmed the ban, but the regional editor-in-chief of the magazine Alsaad Omar Al Menhaly made an announcement on Twitter which read:
Dear readers in Saudi Arabia, we apologize for you not obtaining August's magazine. According to the publishing company, the magazine was denied entry for cultural reasons.
Chief Editor
“Unfortunately, it has been the trend in the Middle East to suppress any voice that doesn't run with the ideological mainstream currently governing the region,” Issam Fawaz, CEO of I Believe in Science told a leading daily.
The magazine had already faced flak in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. A line about evolution was removed from the “War on Science” issue of the magazine.
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