The Vatican newspaper has condemned the French Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's latest front cover, which depicts God as an assassin, saying it disrespects all believers, of whatever faith.

The special edition of Charlie Hebdo has published a million copies to commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attack at their office which killed 12 people, eight of whom were Charlie Hebdo employees.

The front cover depicts God as a terrorist carrying a machine gun and is accompanied by the caption: "One year on: the assassin still on the run."

The Vatican Newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said the illustration "is insulting towards faithful of all religions: it is a caricature which is not at all helpful at a time when we need to stand by each other."

Charlie Hebdo had bought into a false narrative that violence in the name of religion is true religion, according to the newspaper, who drew attention instead to number of religious leaders who had rejected violence in the name of religion:

"Behind the deceptive flag of uncompromising secularism, the weekly is forgetting once more what religious leaders of every faith unceasingly repeat to reject violence in the name of religion – using God to justify hatred is a genuine blasphemy, as Pope Francis has said several times," it added.

"In Charlie Hebdo's choice, there is the sad paradox of a world which is more and more sensitive about being politically correct, almost to the point of ridicule, yet does not wish to acknowledge or to respect believers' faith in God, regardless of religion."

Shortly after the Charlie Hebdo attack on 7 January 2015, when brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi killed 12 people, Pope Francis condemned the killings.

"To kill in the name of God is an absurdity," Pope Francis said, with a caution that "each religion has its dignity" and "there are limits".