Respected Italian writer criticizes America magazine for ad blunder

Published: 2005-12-22

ROME (CNS) -- Controversy over an advertisement in a U.S. Jesuit-run Catholic magazine made the front page of a major Italian newspaper in an article written by a highly respected Italian Catholic author and commentator. Vittorio Messori, who has co-authored books with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, severely criticized an ad in America magazine which offered for sale a small statue of Mary covered in a condom. The Jesuit-run magazine said the ad, published in its Dec. 5 issue, was accepted by mistake. It has apologized to its readers for failing to screen the ad in advance. Messori's commentary, published in Corriere della Sera Dec. 22, was unusual in several respects. It gave the impression that the magazine itself was offering the statue for sale, it did not mention America's explanation and apology, and it used the ad to launch a verbal attack on the church in the United States.

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