Fake photo of 'Nazi Pope' stirs controversy

ROME (RNS) - Italian authorities who ordered a Web site shut down because of a photomontage of the German-born Pope Benedict XVI in a Nazi uniform came under attack May 5 for allegedly endangering freedom of expression.

Rome prosecutors accused the Indymedia Italia Web site (www.italy.indymedia.org) earlier in the week of insulting the Catholic religion, an offense that carries a penalty of up to one year in prison.

The photograph showed the pope's head superimposed on a figure wearing a Nazi uniform and standing in front of a large swastika. He was identified as "Nazi pope."

Friends of the new pope have said that while growing up in Germany during World War II, the then Joseph Ratzinger was registered without his knowledge as a member of the Hitler Youth. They described the Ratzinger family as anti-Nazi.