Catholic lawyer sues Colombian magazine for its satirical spread

Published: 2006-07-06

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNS) -- When Alejandro Ordonez, an attorney, government official and Catholic, heard about a magazine spread that depicted a topless actress posed as Christ and satirized the Bible, he filed a lawsuit. But Soho magazine's director, Daniel Samper, considers it just another irreverent spoof his men's magazine has published. The spread includes a photo that shows a topless actress posed as Christ and surrounded by prominent Colombian athletes, entertainers and politicians, all arranged in imitation of Leonardo da Vinci's painting, "The Last Supper." The pages feature photos of a nearly nude woman with thorns on her forehead and wounds on her side, as though experiencing the agony of Christ. The accompanying article by Colombian author Fernando Vallejo is a sarcastic critique of literal interpretations of the Bible. The author writes about the economic "arbitrariness" of the parable of the workers in the vineyard and praises communist icons Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Fidel Castro.

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