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I was interested to note that the writings of Joseph Ratzinger managed to knock the next Harry Potter book off the top of a German book chart.

I also note that it only seems to be the children who are suffering adults' projections & fears.

The BBC announced yesterday that "A primary school cancelled a Harry Potter day over complaints it could lead children into "areas of evil".
Pupils from The Holt Primary School in Skellingthorpe, Lincs, were planning to dress up as witches and wizards. But the event - to mark the launch of the new JK Rowling book - was scrapped after parents and a local rector expressed concerns about witchcraft. Headteacher Paul Martin said the rector claimed he was seeking "to lead our children into areas of evil".

Let's hope Il Papa is as forthright in his pronunciations on the importance of & need for AIDS prevention etc.....

[QUOTE=adriatica]yesterday the pope decided to break off from his holiday to pronounce on harry potter... he obviosly has had time to ponder the potter phenomenom and has pronounced that it should be banned as an evil influence on young people... [/QUOTE]

Ex Nazi condemns work of fiction eh? Do you think he has his priorities a bit wrong?

[QUOTE=lotaresco]Ex Nazi condemns work of fiction eh? Do you think he has his priorities a bit wrong?[/QUOTE]

No - it shows he's as in touch with reality as the last Pope

I suppose it just shows how low the UK is sinking, to learn that Kwicksave propose selling the latest book for under a fiver !!!!!. I am pleased to note that the Na, errrm, Pope has decided to pronounce on the matter, and, also trust that in the fulness of time, he will consider prophylactic use for aids control and other such trifling matters... Hey Ho.

The priests I know are Harry Potter fans. One of them (during a similar debate) once pointed out that the ideas are not so far from the Christian faith. For example, Harry being protected from Voldermort by the power of his parents love.........

Did the Holy Father say what his objection was?

Maria Lucia

Children stories of long ago have always been filled with fantasia of witches, killings, and strange dwarfs, etc. I have never read any of these Harry Potter books; are they really so different from the old fairy-tales?

I have read all of the Harry Potter books and am eagerly awaiting delivery of my copy of the latest one tomorrow morning. They aren't so different from the fairy-tales, ultimately good overcoming evil. I think that anything that encourages children to read has to be praised, which these books have done.

I know many children that have read the books and none of them have, to the best of my knowledge, turned into witches and wizards!!!!

our nine year old son has watched the films and we are now carefully watching him.... each night we hang garlic over the bed and paint protective signs on the bedroom door.... as yet there are no signs of pointed hats growing and he has shown little or no interest in newts and frogs etc... but thankfully the popes warning has arrived and now we know we must ban him from watching these heretical films.... maybe the dire consequences only arrive from reading the books... meanwhile the pope seems to be enjoying his holiday... whenever he takes a walk his security team ... armed with wooden bolted crossbows and now including the famous Buffy are prepared for any outrageous Potterist attacks... thankfully the only danger so far was posed by an elleven year old on a broomstick who flew over aosta yeaterday but seemed peaceful enough.... security guards noted that there were no missiles slung from the brush area and it was allowed to pass safely on its way... escorted by .... sorry but you have to realise the sun gets quite hot down here...... and whats a Holy Father

Ok, so, I'm not really a fan of Religion, or in fact Harry Potter, BUT, this Holy Father chap, how does he feel about virgin birthing, turning of water into wine, raising people from the dead, walking on water, statues bleeding, or, weeping, and, other Miracles ??
or, could it be that JKR is pulling in more money than the collection plate ??

Don’t think it is about money GeorgeS.

In 1929 the ½ûÂþÌìÌà government awarded the Vatican $ 92 million under the Lateran treaty as compensation for losing the Papal States when Italy was unified.

Some of the money was used for construction projects and the rest was invested. Today, apparently, these investments are worth just under the $400 million mark. Considering the curia’s low risk low yield investment policy, not bad at all!

Despite the fact that last year the Vatican posted a deficit of around $12 million, it still has substantial amounts of money on deposit and the value of its real estate assets are estimated to be in the region of $908 million (one recent estimate states the Catholic Church is worth $ 1 trillion globally).

A far cry from when Pope Julius II introduced the widespread sale of indulgences in order to avoid impending bankruptcy and fill up the papacy’s haemorrhaging coffers.

[QUOTE=FrancisM]Children stories of long ago have always been filled with fantasia of witches, killings, and strange dwarfs, etc. I have never read any of these Harry Potter books; are they really so different from the old fairy-tales?[/QUOTE]

The Narnia series by C S Lewis is full of ghosts, witches, satyrs, fauns, dryads spells, magic and much, much more. And these books have been popular with children for decades, funny that Popes past never saw fit to ban any of them, although they may have had to struggle with the fact that C S Lewis was a devout Christian and intended the books as a series of Christian inspirational messages. Umm indeed he succeeded IMO, far better pro Christian propaganda than any Pope has ever managed.

Unless of course we hark back to the earlier Christian message of "Join our faith, where incense lingers, because if you don't we'll break your fingers." And of course the current Pope has been head of the Inquisition as well as a Nazi.

As this thread is getting more and more off topic and more like the popular English hobby of slagging off Catholics, I'll set the record straight on the original topic. Pope Benedict's letter on Harry Potter.

A woman wrote a study banging on about the dangers of Harry Potter stories blah blah blah. Two years ago she sent a copy of her theories to Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XV1 (The Holy Father). The Cardinal wrote her a letter and allowed him to quote him in her petition to get her theories read by the previous pope John Paul 11.

The Holy Father has not (as far as anyone knows) spent his holiday worrying about the effect of Harry Potter and has certainly not made any declaration of doctrine on the matter.

So don't anyone get your knickers in a twist about it.

Kindest Regards

Maria Lucia

Maria Lucia…

You are right to bring this up. I believe the controversy stems from a letter that Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to Gabriele Kuby, the author of a book about Harry Potter in which she argues that Harry Potter corrupts the young and distorts their understanding of good and evil. Pope Benedict’s comments may have been strongly worded (this is open to interpretation of course) but then again, are there many heads of state whose views about a particular subject are not without controversy?

Some of the comments in this thread maybe underpinned by a jaundiced view of the Catholic Church. Some may appear unflattering, obtuse and even trivial, but you cannot deny the contradictory nature of Christendom and its somewhat ambiguous ideology and autocratic doctrine, much of it resulting from the unfortunate legacy of the Middle Ages when the church imposed a regime of abstemious piety upon the common people, yet being itself morally corrupt.

The Catholic Church has a long-standing history behind it. It has had a long and pervasive influence on society for centuries. It has, in more recent times, unquestionably expressed its unequivocal support for democracy and to charitable works, but this doesn’t (and shouldn’t) render it immune from analysis, synthesis and open, well-balanced criticism.

Charles Joseph,

Thank you for your informed reply.

This thread has reminded me to check the basis of what I hear and read before leaping headlong into adapting the story to reinforce my own beliefs and prejudices. I think there are others here who may wish to do the same.

I will not get into a debate about the history of the Catholic Church as it is pointless and probably heading seriously off topic for this forum.

This and the Potter vs. Pope type of debate is the bread of life for Christian and Atheist forums. Anyone tingled by this thread will have a whale of a time over there!

Maria Lucia