Posted on 07/13/2005 12:49:13 AM PDT by dsc
Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels - Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online
RIMSTING, Germany, July 13, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews.com has obtained and made available online copies of two letters sent by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was recently elected Pope, to a German critic of the Harry Potter novels. In March 2003, a month after the English press throughout the world falsely proclaimed that Pope John Paul II approved of Harry Potter, the man who was to become his successor sent a letter to a Gabriele Kuby outlining his agreement with her opposition to J.K. Rowling's offerings. (See below for links to scanned copies of the letters signed by Cardinal Ratzinger.)
As the sixth issue of Rowling's Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - is about to be released, the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger expressed serious reservations about the novels is now finally being revealed to the English-speaking world still under the impression the Vatican approves the Potter novels.
In a letter dated March 7, 2003 Cardinal Ratzinger thanked Kuby for her "instructive" book Harry Potter - gut oder böse (Harry Potter- good or evil?), in which Kuby says the Potter books corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.
"It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly," wrote Cardinal Ratzinger.
The letter also encouraged Kuby to send her book on Potter to the Vatican prelate who quipped about Potter during a press briefing which led to the false press about the Vatican support of Potter. At a Vatican press conference to present a study document on the New Age in April 2003, one of the presenters - Fr. Peter Fleedwood - made a positive comment on the Harry Potter books in response to a question from a reporter. Headlines such as "Pope Approves Potter" (Toronto Star), "Pope Sticks Up for Potter Books" (BBC), "Harry Potter Is Ok With The Pontiff" (Chicago Sun Times) and "Vatican: Harry Potter's OK with us" (CNN Asia) littered the mainstream media.
In a second letter sent to Kuby on May 27, 2003, Cardinal Ratzinger "gladly" gave his permission to Kuby to make public "my judgement about Harry Potter."
The most prominent Potter critic in North America, Catholic novelist and painter Michael O'Brien commented to LifeSiteNews.com on the "judgement" of now-Pope Benedict saying, "This discernment on the part of Benedict XVI reveals the Holy Father's depth and wide ranging gifts of spiritual discernment." O'Brien, author of a book dealing with fantasy literature for children added, "it is consistent with many of the statements he's been making since his election to the Chair of Peter, indeed for the past 20 years - a probing accurate read of the massing spiritual warfare that is moving to a new level of struggle in western civilization. He is a man in whom a prodigious intellect is integrated with great spiritual gifts. He is the father of the universal church and we would do well to listen to him."
English translations of the two letters by Cardinal Ratzinger follow:
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Vatican City March 7, 2003
Esteemed and dear Ms. Kuby!
Many thanks for your kind letter of February 20th and the informative book which you sent me in the same mail. It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.
I would like to suggest that you write to Mr. Peter Fleedwood, (Pontifical Council of Culture, Piazza S. Calisto 16, I00153 Rome) directly and to send him your book.
Sincere Greetings and Blessings,
+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
=======================
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Vatican City May 27, 2003
Esteemed and dear Ms. Kuby,
Somehow your letter got buried in the large pile of name-day , birthday and Easter mail. Finally this pile is taken care of, so that I can gladly allow you to refer to my judgment about Harry Potter.
Sincere Greetings and Blessings,
+ Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Links to the scanned copies of the two signed letters by Cardinal Ratzinger (in German) - In PDF format: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005_docs/ratzingerletter.pdf http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005_docs/ratzingerpermission.pdf
jhw
Ping -- though I know you'll take umbrage at my callous disregard for the Potty books.
"I would even go so far as to say that DEMANDING worship from us is a bit arrogant"
Have you ever considered that such "commandments" from God are meant to bring us into closer union with Him? God does not benefit from worship, we do. If the meaning of our lives are based on eternal union with Him, and if worship is, according to the Church, the greatest act that humans can conduct, then I consider this "commandment" a piece of good advice from someone who loves me and wants me to enjoy heaven with Him.
If you consider worshipping God a burden, I pray that you consider more on why God created us in the first place.
Regards
It's the whole idea of finding other ways to refer to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
They're not.
Note to everyone on this post: For the love of God, please do not compare this potboiler tripe to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was a scholar and a poet. The ding-bat broad who wrote these books is...well, just that -- a ding-bat.
Torture!
I tend to agree with our interrogators on the efficacy of this method. After a few chapters, I'd be singing like a canary.
Alice in Wonderland? Are you Sirius? The very book that started the trend of seeing adults as foolish and incompetent and children seen as worthy of praise for mocking their authority
`Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) `You're nothing but a pack of cards!'
It's also damn funny!
"I think it's sad you believe a children's book is the root of all evil."
How come you can't argue this without resorting to that sort of thing? Nobody has ever called the books "the root of all evil," or implied any such thing.
"And I have been led to believe that by"
You don't believe it. Not for a second.
I think P.J. O'Rourke called that the defining moment for the true spirit of the Republican party: Righteous individualism combined with woeful ignorance.
That only makes it a subtle seduction which can corrupt the hearts of the young, preventing them from developing a properly ordered sense of good and evil, thus harming their relationship with God while that relationship is still in its infancy.
We were an experiment, but he clearly has no more interest in us at this point.
"If there are though, they'd be mostly things like..."
And would include books that make the occult look attractive.
"That comes pretty close to the Puritan view, I guess."
You've interpreted my statement to mean, "Everything that's fun is bad," when my meaning was that some things that are fun are bad. Why did you do that?
"I think there is very likely an equal, probably greater danger, that the things that make us feel self righteous are the real traps set for us by Satan. Like condemning Harry Potter books as satanic."
Satan uses everything, including self-righteousness. What is startling about your statement is that you imagine those of us who see the danger are harboring feelings of self-rightousness.
Liberals, of course, take it as an article of faith that everyone who disapproves of anything they approve of is acting out of bad motives, like self-righteousness. It's frightening to see how many conservatives do the same thing.
I guess it's like Robert Bork said in "Slouching Toward Gomorrah," we're all contaminated by leftism to some degree.
"And yet, crime rates keep dropping."
Yes, because we're locking up more criminals for longer sentences. The two things are not related.
Umm, whatever.
"And I have been led to believe that by reading all the posts on this thread condemning a book of pure fiction."
Are Hemmingway's novels "pure fiction?" And yet, how people go on about the truths they contain regarding life and human nature.
Everyone who reads makes judgements about how astutely authors understand the human condition.
The fact is that *nothing* is "just" a work of fiction. All fiction has content that speaks to us as people, or we wouldn't read it.
Modernman shouldn't feel bad. The NYT also finds the correlation between "lower crime/more criminals locked up" confusing.
"The very book that started the trend of seeing adults as foolish and incompetent and children seen as worthy of praise for mocking their authority"
And written by a drug-addicted pedophile.
No evil there! Nope. Just a "story."
Agreed. And there's nothing more tedious and torturous than being trapped inside the world of some author's failed or deficient imagination.
"< /atheist>"
Oh, you poor guy. How sad for you.
"You be a better case for something being bad than "it is!"
You're not anywhere near ready to go there yet.
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