New York — Jeff Koyen, editor of the controversial alternative New York weekly, the New York Press quit rather than accept a two week suspension over the paper’s recent cover story, “the 52 Funniest things about the Upcoming Death of the Pope.”

The story, written by columnist Matt Taibbi, has received immense amounts of criticism from Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

In a statement on the web site “Gawker”, Koyen blasted the paper’s owner and publisher over the suspension, saying that the paper is “iconoclastic, occasionally obnoxious but always intelligent. If you see through the nasty Pope jokes, for instance, you will see a well-reasoned political argument.”

Others aren’t so sure.

Senator Chuck Schumer called the story “The most disgusting thing I’ve seen in 30 years of public life.”

A representative of New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg added, “As disgusting as this is, it’s sadly par for the course for this publication.”

Brian Saint-Paul, editor of Crisis Magazine called the piece “a nauseating list of almost unimaginably offensive items” and added that the New York Press is “exceptional only in the sheer number of New Yorkers who consider it garbage.”