Catholic magazine in Prophet cartoon row

THE controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was reignited yesterday after an Italian Catholic magazine printed one on its front cover.

Studi Cattolici carried a drawing of the Prophet in Hell, with the

Italian writer Dante Alighieri asking the poet Virgil: "That man divided in two from his head to his feet - isn't that Muhammad?" Virgil replies: "Yes, it is him and he is in two because he has divided society - while the man next to him with his arms down represents Italian politics towards Islam."

The cartoon is a play on Dante's Inferno - a similar scene is painted on the ceiling of the San Petronio Cathedral in Bologna, which had been the planned target of a Islamic terrorist cell until the plot was uncovered.

Yesterday, there was widespread condemnation of the decision to print the cartoon - earlier this year riots erupted across the Muslim world after similar cartoons were published in Denmark.

But Studi Cattolici, which has close ties with the Vatican and the secretive Opus Dei group, defended the decision to publish it.

Its editor, Cesare Cavallieri, said: "It is not a cartoon against Muhammad but rather a cartoon about the loss of identity in the West."

However, Opus Dei distanced itself from the magazine, saying:

"We wish to express our solidarity with the Muslim communities of Italy and the world. We consider it deplorable that this cartoon should appear in a magazine that has the name Catholic in its title.

"Its publication shows a lack of sensitivity and Christian charity. Although Opus Dei has no responsibility for this magazine and each person is responsible for his or her own actions, we wish to ask forgiveness for the offence given."

The newspaper Corriere Della Sera warned that the cartoon risked "an inferno of controversy".

Muslim groups in Italy also condemned the publication of the cartoon. Roberto Piccardo, of the Italian Union of Muslims, said: "The mother of cretins is always pregnant."