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Vatican raises its two thumbs on the latest Hary Potter and the Half-blood Prince installment


Posted by on Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 12:20
This item was posted in Catholic Hollywood, Multimedia and has 11 Comments so far.

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Wow, this is a good news indeed, the Vatican has just lauded and praised the latest Harry Potter movie for its Good versus Evil theme. This is the best review of the film by a Vatican connected agency so far. We can recall that the film and the book has been criticized by some priests and clergy for its explicit theme on magic, but doesn’t realize that its not more than your usual fairy tales like Cinderella and Pinocchio. According to the Associated Press:

The Vatican lauded the latest Harry Potter film on Monday, saying “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” made the age-old debate over good vs. evil crystal clear.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano even gave two thumbs up to the film’s treatment of adolescent love, saying it achieved the “correct balance” and made the stars more credible to the general audience.

The newspaper said the film, which opens Wednesday, was the best adaptation yet of the J.K. Rowling series about the adventures of the bespectacled child wizard Harry Potter and his Hogwarts chums as they battle Harry’s nemesis, the evil sorcerer Voldemort.

While criticizing Rowling for omitting any explicit “reference to the transcendent” in her books, L’Osservatore said the latest installment nevertheless makes clear that good should overcome evil “and that sometimes this requires costs and sacrifice.”

“In addition, the spastic search for immortality epitomized by Voldemort is stigmatized,” the review said.

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.

My hunch is right, this latest installment is by far the best of the series, the Vatican has already confirmed it. I am reading a book called, “Finding God in harry Potter” and its tremendously awesome. It shows the link of Chrristianity in JK Rowling’s novel.  Can’t wait to see this movie tomorrow.



About the Catholic Blogger

, a.k.a. "bluepanjeet" has been writing in cyber space since 2005. In 2006, he jump-started his Catholic blogging a few years even before the Catholic Church realized the importance of utilizing social networks in spreading the Gospel. In 2007, in response to a realization of the growing need for Catholic Bloggers online, he officially launched his own self-hosted Catholic blog and called it "On The Wings Of My Dream" or simply OTWOMD which is a metaphor of his favorite psalm in the Bible, Psalm 63. Since then he has been blogging, and sometimes podcasting, for the Catholic Church using his enthusiasm in the New Media, his inclination on visual and digital arts, his passion for the written word and his love for the Catholic Church. You can follow Rom's tweets on Twitter @rommatthieson



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11 Comments

  1. 15 July, 2009, 14:02

    Coolness! Can’t wait to see this movie!!

  2. shalee
    15 July, 2009, 14:35

    ohhh~ i emailed you a similar article . . . im watching the movie in exactly 52min!! lol

  3. 15 July, 2009, 14:57

    sa weekend ko pa makikita ang installment na e2… this post made me happy since my brother the priest discouraged me to watch the first series…

  4. dencios
    15 July, 2009, 14:58

    “Finding God in harry Potter”?? sound interesting. i’ll check amazon. or the local bookstore. u forgot to include the author :)

  5. 15 July, 2009, 17:19

    Hehe same here jorge same here hehe

  6. 15 July, 2009, 17:20

    Nini, thanks a million, I got your email actually. This is from you. If not for your email I may have overlook it. The news isnt on any catholic website. Its on secular websites.

  7. 15 July, 2009, 17:21

    Oh BTW, please dont tell me the story coz I still going to watch the movie these coming days

  8. 15 July, 2009, 17:35

    Naku nanonood ako pag hindi opening day ay weekdays not weekedns kasi ang dami nanonood. I hate it pag madami nagsasalita sa sinehan lalo na sa likod ko. Kaya mas gusto ko kakaunti nanonood para nakaka concentrate ako sa palabas.

    Actually noong una ako rin pero I asked my cousin to buy me this book which I saw in amazon. Actually yung nagcomment sa taas na shalee is my cousin. She’s the one who gave me the book and its an excellent read especially for those who are doubting about the book’s religious tone. Napakaganda ng explanation nung author. I suggest you buy the book and read it. Kaya lang be sure to read the first five HP books kasi dun nagfocus ang author eh. Pag hindi mo sya nabasa balewala din yung book. It took me at least two years

  9. 15 July, 2009, 18:53

    Dencios, the author is “John Granger”. My Cousin bought it at Barnes and Noble. Baka meron sa bookstore wag ka muna umorder sa amazon

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