Vatican, Benetton reach out-of-court settlement over kissing-pope ad

(May 16, 2012) The Vatican and the Italian fashion house Benetton reached an out-of-court settlement after the Vatican took legal action against an ad campaign that depicted Pope Benedict XVI kissing a Muslim leader. The settlement included the fashion company making an unspecified donation to a Catholic charity and a promise to stop the image from being used by third parties, including being displayed on the Internet, according to a statement of Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi on Tuesday. The campaign, titled "Unhate," was unveiled Nov. 16 and featured doctored images of supposedly antagonistic world leaders in kissing scenes. One of the images was of Pope Benedict embracing Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, president of al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, who had announced the suspension of dialogue with the Vatican in 2011. The Vatican issued a strong protest the same day, condemning the "completely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in the context of a publicity campaign for commercial ends." Shortly afterward, the company withdrew the image from circulation and the website of the Unhate Foundation. The Vatican then took legal action against the Benetton Group to block the doctored image's continued circulation, including in the mass media, in Italy and in other countries.
Benetton issued an apology May 11, reiterating its dismay for having "upset the feelings of His Holiness Benedict XVI and the faithful." The Vatican said the legal matter was now closed and that it was hoped a lesson could be learned from this "most unpleasant incident" about the importance of "the due respect for the image of the pope, likewise of every other person, and for the feelings of the faithful."