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
I get to read the new HP first....
Well good for you! I mean it. And you prove that you are an INVOLVED and INFORMED parent who KNOWS what their kids are absorbing which is the way it's suppose to be.
I cry every time I listen to it. Good thing it's not while I am driving. : )
Glad to hear it. Thank him for his service.
;-)
Yeah, I had a feeling it was coming so I made Mom read that chapter aloud. It was a sad day in our house...
Stupid Dumbledore could have done something if he'd been paying proper attention.
Well sure, if you use muggle math...
Well, since we don't actually know what they do in Arithmancy, since Harry's too stupid for the class, we'll have to do it the Muggle way.
I ripped a couple pages out of the paperback of book 4 before my son read it. I felt it was a bit more than he was capable of dealing with. Actually, *I* always skip that part, too. : )
Well, yeah. Everyone knows that due to the way Harry was raised, he has to have explanations of things in order to trust people.
But really, when would he ever need Arithmancy?
Just because you don't need it doesn't mean you shouldn't learn it. It's good for a human to push his limits and - oh, wait, that's my calculus speech.
Who are you calling human? Oh wait...wrong thread...
I'm going to say that Rowling's books will be considered minor, but legitimate literature in the future, like the Hardy Boys, etc.
And the Dan Brown stuff will be long forgotten I think.
I needed arithmancy all the way through high school. What a disaster I was in math.
Actually I haven't. People didn't stand in line at midnight on release day to get the latest Barbara Cartland, jusy as people don't make reservations to eat at McDs - because there'll be another exactly like it tomorrow. They did and do stand to get the latest Dickens or Rowling.
Secondly, I couldn't give you tthe name or significance of a single character of Cartland's. Whereas people can reference Scrooge, or Oliver Twist, and what they stand for, even if they haven't read a single word of Dickens
And this thread is proof the same applies to Harry Potter.
I have a feeling arithmancy wouldn't have been the answer.
Anyone who's ever relied too much on the answers at the back of the book can tell you there's no magic shortcuts in math.
There were things that my parents did not want me to read or watch, but they never "censored" anything. They explained to me why they didn't like it. We discussed the issues, and they knew that when I grew up (and was not living under their roof) I had the choice to disregard their wishes. In essence, they taught me how to think. And they gave me a firm grounding in morals and knowledge. They weren't afraid to let me see "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" -- in fact it was a family favorite. But they didn't like Bewitched. They didn't go ballistic if I watched it, but they didn't like it and made that very clear.
The only tv show that I remember my mother really forbidding us to watch was -- get this: Hogan's Heros! You want to know why? She thought it trivialized the Nazis by making them look like inept fools. It offended her sense of the horror of the Nazis' crimes. She was afraid that kids would see that and think that the Nazis were these harmless boobs. She was afraid that such revisionism might unwittingly benefit Holocaust deniers because kids might reason that these silly and incompetent Nazis couldn't possibly have masterminded the murder of so many innocent people. I think mom was reading way too much into a funny little sitcom. But I respect her argument and the reason behind her dislike of that show.
If parents don't want their kids to read HP books, they have the opportunity to start a dialogue with their children that will far outweigh any benefit derived from the book itself.
You know, Jen, you just killed it for me. I haven't read that far yet. Now I'm gonna have to smack your b..... up! lol
It's been out for two years, that's more than enough time to have read that far!
Sorry...
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