VATICAN WITHDRAWS STAMP FOLLOWING CRITICISM
The Vatican has withdrawn a stamp just two days after it was issued, following criticism that the design marking 2023 World Youth Day recalls Portugal’s colonial past.
The stamp, issued on 16 May and designed by Italian illustrator Stefano Morri, shows Pope Francis leading a group of young people up Lisbon’s Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to Discoveries), which was built in 1960 during the dictatorship of Antonio Salazar, to mark the 500th death anniversary of Henry the Navigator. The stone monument is seen by many to be a symbol of the national dictatorship of the mid-20th century and Portugal’s colonial expansion into Africa.
The World Youth Day 2023 celebrations are set to take place from 1 to 6 August in the Portuguese capital, and the €3.10 stamp was issued in anticipation of the event. According to Vatican News, ‘the design was intended to depict Pope Francis leading young people into the future, but it had drawn criticism for its use of the image of a well-known monument in the Portuguese capital that recalls the colonial past.’
However, the stamp’s design was quickly criticised by some observers. Vatican-based Portuguese bishop, Carlos Azevedo, has been quoted as saying the stamp was in ‘poor taste’, whilst Bishop that the stamp ‘uses a very connoted work’ and ‘epically evokes a pastoral reality that does not correspond with this spirit.’ Vatican News explained: ‘The negative comments… have underlined how the design, linked to a well-known monument, recalls a colonial past very distant from Pope Francis’ message of universal fraternity.’
