Posted on 02/04/2003 10:32:00 AM PST by Maximilian
Rome's Chief Exorcist Warns Parents Against Harry Potter
NEW YORK, Jan 2, 02 (LSN.ca) - In early December, Rome's official exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series.
The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Father Amorth said, "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."
The exorcist, with his decades of experience in directly combating evil, explained that J.K. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art." He noted that the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."
In the interview which was published in papers across Europe, Father Amorth also criticized the disordered morality presented in Rowling's works, noting that they suggest that rules can be contravened and lying is justified when they work to one's benefit.
Of note, the North American coverage of Father Amorth's warnings about Potter significantly downplayed the warnings. The New York Times coverage which was carried in many other media outlets left out most of the information in the European coverage which is quoted above. It only quoted Father Amorth as saying, "If children can see the movie with their parents, it's not all bad." The Times report also fails to mention that the movie version has significantly cleaned up Harry's image, making it less troublesome than the books.
Used with permission LifeSite News www.lifesite.net
© Family Life Center International
1) I agree that Harry Potter is fantasy;
2) I believe that Rowling uses true occult and witchcraft ideas in her books which can and have proven to increase a child's interest in the occult and witchcraft;
3) Witchcraft and everything surrounding it are works of the devil, i.e. there is no such thing as "white magic";
4) The Potter books are aimed at YOUNG children (8-13) who are less likely to be well versed or grounded in their Christian faith (and many not even taught anything about God from their parents who may be agnostics, etc.) and these children are very suspectible to "magic";
5) There are blatant anti-Christian messages in the books, which are getting darker with each publication.
6) Aside from religion, Harry Potter is a bad role model: he lies, cheats, steals and is never punished for these actions because he does them "for good" or to simply not get in trouble.
7) Parents should decide, of course, what is appropriate for their children to read, to watch on tv, etc. but they should be fully aware of the dangers of Potter and the FACT that interest in the occult and witchcraft have gone up DRAMATICALLY among young people since Potter first came out. This alone should spark concern among Christian parents.
8) Finally, LOTR and the Narnia tales, while fantasy, have the right moral order. Potter has a reverse moral order.
Hope that helps and God bless!
Make sure your kids know which way is North, or which way is Rome--and they will generally be just fine.
Zackly. There are no ouiji boards, tarot cards, dream interpretation books or anything like that in my house. There is a crucifix in almost every room, saint cards galore and rosaries everywhere. I have several different bibles (probably 5 or 6), at least 100 different books on Catholicism, biographies of saints falling off the shelves, history, social commentary, tons of kids books, it's like a library here!
My son doesn't care about Harry Potter and my daughter knows fantasy and she knows God. She's a good kid of 14 who read all of the Potter series and who just did an in-depth report about abortion for her English class. Before she did her presentation and hand-out, most of the kids were pro-choice. Now, most of them are pro-life. She's also the kid that most of the other kids want to be friends with because she is kind and loving and makes no distinction between the popular kids and the not so popular kids. She goes to Mass every week because she wants to go and quite often her friends go with her because she is going - not because their parents take them.
Ya can't raise your kids in a vacuum.
I did tell the "pastoral associate" nun, without naming names. I asked her if we could address the issue in a Catholic context at the youth group meetings. She told me she wants nothing controversial (read overtly Catholic), she envisions an inclusive yg (all religions) and the big lessons the kids need to learn is that 1. Jesus loves them, and 2. social awareness - they are lucky to have been given so much and they need to give back to society. I no longer help out with the (failed) yg and the nun really doesn't talk much to me over this issue and also that I called her on her leadership role in the local VOTF group and told her I wouldn't give Boston College a penny of my money (her alma mater) as it is no longer worthy of the Catholic name.
Our parish priest is much like this nun and one of the last things he said to me (before he started to avoid me) is that we should pull away from Rome because they don't understand us. My bishop is Cardinal Law.
It's pretty lonely around here!
I'm glad there are people who volunteer for this work. Holding people down in levitating chairs doesn't appeal to me very much...
Becky
The more I read about theosophy, the clearer its objectives become.
They like to start young.
Just as there are many different animals in the zoo,
and many different cultures among men,
and a gradation of personalities amongst those who aren't saved, but are considered 'humane',...
I've sometimes wondered how many people might actually be possessed,
who don't exhibit the extreme behavior depicted in the exorcist, but are nevertheless possessed.
ok I understand the findings of sacrilegious imagery in the hp books. I understand how children under, say, 14, cannot discern for themselves the wrongful actions of a hero figure setting a poor example at different times. I get how man’s reliance on the higher power is upheld in LOTR and Narnia, and it is wrongful when man trusts/pursues magical powers. But I just don’t get how it can be said that the Harry Potter books are all about power, when, despite the setting in a magical world, no matter how deeply one peels off the layers, it is still basically about how the central character is forced to defend himself against evil. How he is pursued, victimized, finds himself in all sorts of situations he doesn’t quite know how to handle, but ultimately is always trying just to stay alive, defend defenseless others, and never succumb to ultimate evil. He is even abused, victimized as a defenseless child, you would expect his humanization to have depraved considerably through his treatment and familial example, yet most of his main choices are on the side of compassion, gut instinct to defend, help, and sacrifice himself to protect others. Yes,he finds himself in situations he doesn’t handle perfectly, but without evil intent (where I can see how an adult’s perception of this character would be accurate vs. that of an impressionable child). But, where is this quest for power?—Harry never went looking for trouble—it found him.
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