Saudi Arabia has decided to ban the latest issue of the official magazine of the National Geographic Society owing to “cultural reasons”.
National Geographic’s August issue features Pope Francis on the cover and a story about his “silent revolution” at the Vatican, hoping to create a church “that is poor for the poor” within.
Though there was no official announcement from the government of Saudi Arabia, National Geographic’s regional editor-in-chief, Alsaad Omar Al Menhaly, tweeted about the ban.
The regional editor-in-chief’s tweet reads, “Dear readers in Saudi Arabia, we apologise for you not obtaining August’s magazine. According to the publishing company, the magazine was denied entry for cultural reasons. Chief Editor.”
Pope Francis’ reforms and declarations regarding climate change, abortion and the most recent one on parishes to take in refugees are being seen as the most ground-breaking reforms by any pope.
A spokesperson for the National Geographic Society told Quartz, “We are aware of the issue, but we are still currently in the information gathering phase.”
However, this is not the first time the content of the magazine has been censored in Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, a line in the magazine’s March issue titled “The war on science” stated “evolution never happened”. The line was eliminated from the cover for unknown reasons.
