The kissing pope

by Gunther Simmermacher · November 18, 2011

Yesterday the editorial staff of The Southern Cross was debating whether to give coverage to the Vatican�s reaction to the Benetton �Unhate� ad that depicts Pope Benedict planting a kiss on the lips of Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, president of al-Azhar University in Cairo, who this year suspended dialogue with the Vatican. In the event, we decided not to (nor is this opinion piece going to be printed). For one thing, the Vatican has instructed its lawyers to block its circulation, and Benetton have duly withdrawn the image. For another, the story is a bit of a storm in a teacup.

The Vatican�s objections were predictable. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi called the image �a serious lack of respect for the pope, an offense to the sentiments of the faithful and a clear demonstration of how fundamental rules of respect for people can be violated by advertising, in order to attract attention through provocation�.

One might point out that to regard the pope as one of the putative sources of global discord is unjust. Only a few weeks ago, he presided over an interreligious peace happening at Assisi (though the secular news reports, always with a finger on the pulse of what�s peripheral, tended to focus on the manner in which the pope asked for prayers to be held, not on the content of the prayers). The pope is trying to do exactly what the Benetton campaign proposes: to spread the notion of �unhate�. That was the whole point of the gathering he called to Assisi.

I don�t want to speculate what Benetton�s intentions with the ads were � other than to stir a fuss that invariably generates publicity for them; and to which I am presently contributing. Had the series of ads excluded the image depicting the kissing pope, I suppose many Catholics would applaud it for trying to spread the peace. One can�t really object to a message of peace.

Wouldn�t it be nice if President Obama were to kiss China�s leader in the interest of peace instead of kissing up to the Wall Street bandits that profited from bailouts while the rest of the world is crumbling under the economic crisis the same gang of bandits created? And how much pain and fear and hatred wouldn�t be eased if Binyamin Netanyahu were to embrace Mahmoud Abbas?

Fr Lombardi, buying into the worldly culture of commercial image rights and trademarks we more often associate with entertainers and footballers, complained about �a completely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in the context of a publicity campaign for commercial ends�. But somehow I don�t think many Catholics take offense at the idea that the Holy See�s image rights to the pope were violated. Would Jesus insist on image rights to stop Leonardo da Vinci painting him for the purposes of a commercial transaction?

Ss Peter and Paul give each other the holy kiss before their martyrdom in this 216th century painting by Alonzo Rodriguez, in the Museo Regionale di Messina.

I suspect that many of those who protest about the picture of the kissing pope are sexualising the image. Maybe consciously, maybe not, but to some people the idea of the pope kissing another man seems to suggest a form of sexual intimacy. And the homoerotic implications of that may have bothered some people a lot.

But the kiss of peace � of unhate � is a profoundly Christian act. Jesus and the disciples greeted one another with a kiss (perhaps history�s most famous kiss was administered by Judas that terrible night in the Garden of Gethsemane). St Paul calls on Christians to greet one another with a kiss in four separate epistles.� Before Catholics exchanged the Sign of Peace at Mass with a diplomatic handshake, they kissed. In a sermon (#227), St Augustine explained: �…the �Peace be with you� is said, and the Christians embrace one another with the holy kiss. This is a sign of peace; as the lips indicate, let peace be made in your conscience, that is, when your lips draw near to those of your brother, do not let your heart withdraw from his�.

In short, the kiss, even between two men, was normal. And in the Arab world, as in Latinate lands, it still is (though not necessarily on the lips). It is normal in Egypt, where Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb lives, and it is normal in Italy, where Pope Benedict lives.

A kiss between two men, even if it is on the lips, does not in itself suggest homoerotic desire. Showing the pope giving another man a kiss of peace is not disrespectful. Strip the act of sexual projection, and we are left with what could be described as a rather lovely image: two people treating each other with love instead of anger, tenderness instead of harshness, acceptance instead of division, by exchanging a holy kiss.

Somehow I think that the Holy Father would rather agree with such a sentiment.