Posted on 07/15/2005 6:23:30 AM PDT by pa mom
The Pope believes the Harry Potter books "distort Christianity in the soul", according to two letters published on the internet.
The comments were made to a German author who wrote Harry Potter - Good or Evil? which criticises J K Rowling's best-selling series.
Gabriele Kuby sent Pope Benedict XVI a copy of the book in 2003, when he was still a cardinal, and the pontiff's replies have now been published.
"It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter because these are subtle seductions which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly," wrote the Pope.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
JK Rowling is the Debil!
Oy vey!
Maybe a copy of "The Truth About Hillary" would really make his day...if he wants to deal with Christianity versus the devil !!!
Sort of my thought all along.
What's his opinion on "The Mad Scientists Club"?
Maybe not... check out this post.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1441735/posts?page=755#755
Despite the fact that this has been posted about a zillion times, it's not entirely accurate.
Some more info here, for anyone interested:
http://catholicinsider.com/scripts/hp_transcript.php
I certainly hope that's true! Thanks for the info.
"[N]o offense, the lady who complained to the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger about Joanna Rowling's popular series back in 2003, may not have quite understood a very British sense of humour".* * * * *
I was sent a letter from a lady in Germany who claimed to have written to the then cardinal Ratzinger, saying that she thought Harry Potter was a bad thing. And the letter back, which I suspect was written by an assistent of the then cardinal Ratzinger in his office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, suggested that there was a subtle seduction in the books. What that subtle seduction was, was not specified, which makes me think it was a generic answer. And she had written a book on these subjects and so the Cardinal's signature was at the bottom of the letter, suggesting she should send me the book.
"I suspect the letter back was written by an assistant of the then cardinal Ratzinger."
She sent me the book, and I found it a very unsatisfactory book. I don't think she understands English humour. For example, she said: one sign that these books are making fun of Judaism and Christianity is that Voldemort, the wicked magician, who is the great evil power against whom Harry Potter has to fight, is referred to often as 'he who must not be named', and she takes this as an insult to the name of God in a similar way that Adonai, which is often written as Jawhe, is the name that should not be said in Jewish religion. Well I replied to her: don't you know that even within English families, men who make fun of their relationship with women in a nice, lighthearted way say: oh, she who should not be named, meaning the power in the house, their wife. You know, I think it was meant on that kind of level.
Read more at CatholicInsider
Thanks, I'll keep that link bookmarked for the next time this issue pops up... and it will. ~sigh~
No doubt! ;-)
IOW, if you look at the facts:
1) the Pope (when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger) apparently did not read the books, but simply sent a polite letter to Kuby that essentially said we must be careful what we let children read.
2) Monsignor Fleetwood sent a four page letter to Kuby telling her where she was off base.
3) And this is the most important: The Pope and his secretary on on vacation. The Vatican has said it will not comment.
Don't get around scripture much, eh?
Widen your search to include the words 'witch', 'witchcraft', 'sorcerer', 'wizard' and 'divination' and you get 20+ admonitions.
Actually, the Tanakh (old testament) and the New Testament both have specific condemnations of sorcery, which is treated as a form of blasphemy. The Saul incident is misleading (also, keep in mind Saul is not regarded as the best of kings; at least, far from the most morally admirable).
Moses' sorcery was not sorcery, but G-d was acting through him, according to scripture. He was empowered by the Lord. Solomon had some abilities in apocrypha, but I am not sure (in fact i think the opposite) if they were detailed in scripture.
**The Pope believes the Harry Potter books "distort Christianity in the soul",**
I am so glad this is out there!
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