Vatican U-turn as it gives new Harry Potter film its seal of approval



The Vatican has broken with its traditional stance on Harry Potter and given the new film out tomorrow its seal of approval.

In a review of the blockbuster the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince made clear the difference between ''good and evil'.

Under the headline 'Magic is no longer a game of surprise,' reviewer Gaetano Vallini praised the film's special effects and the development of the lead characters saying they were 'far more credible' than previous episodes.

This contrasts with comments made in 2003 when, before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger criticised the 'subtle seductions' contained in the Potter series which could 'corrupt the Christian faith' in impressionable young children.

The film, the sixth in the series, again stars Daniel Radcliffe, as the teen wizard and Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, pictured together

The film, the sixth in the series written by author JK Rowling, again stars Daniel Radcliffe, as the teen wizard and the usual cast of Emma Watson as Hermione Granger and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley.

In his review, Vallini said that the 'mixture of supernatural suspense and romance which has reached the right balance, making the the roles more credible.

''The characters have grown from adolescents into adults and at the same time the tone of the story has grown and as a result entertainment has benefited'.

U-turn: The Vatican has given its seal of approval to the latest Harry Potter film, six years after future Pope Cardinal Ratzinger criticised the 'subtle seductions' in the movies

Vallini added that the line 'between good and evil was clearly marked, and it makes clear that doing good is right and that in some cases this involves hard work and sacrifices'.

He closed his review by saying that: 'At the end of the film what remains is not he scenes of magic but these of the values such as friendship, altruism, loyalty and the giving of one's self.'

The glowing praise is a complete turnaround of what L'Osservatore Romano wrote last year in which it said Harry Potter was the 'wrong kind of hero'.

In that article it also said Harry Potter transmitted 'a vision of the world and the human being full of deep mistakes and dangerous suggestions, even more seductive since it is mixed with half-truths and compelling story-telling'.

The Vatican's praise follows the sharp criticism of the Harry Potter series by a conservative Austrian priest at the center of a church crisis earlier this year.



The Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner had characterized Harry Potter novels as Satanism, while also suggesting Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans and surrounding areas, was provoked by sin.



Pope Benedict XVI promoted Wager to the post of auxiliary bishop in Linz, Austria's third largest city, in January. But amid an outcry among Austrian Catholics over his comments, Wagner eventually gave up the promotion.

