Harry Potter, regularly accused of leading young people towards the occult, has been given a clean bill of moral health by a bastion of Italian Catholicism. Famiglia Cristiana, Italy's best-selling weekly, devoted a long article to the charismatic wizard created by JK Rowling after readers demanded to know what line Catholic parents should take with the hugely popular books.
The magazine tried to clear up all the doubts stemming from media reports that Christian writers and even the pope himself was suspicious of the books and spin-off films. "There's nothing demonic there," Massimo Introvigne, a staunch Catholic and a renowned expert in the history of religions, reassured readers.
He said statistics on esoteric movements and Satanist groups simply did not back up fears that the stories of witchcraft and wizardry spread a suspect culture of magic which was a way into the occult.
This sort of fear came from Christian "fundamentalists," the expert said.
Famiglia Cristiana avoided mentioning last July's media incident which supposedly highlighted concern about Harry Potter from Pope Benedict. As the sixth volume in the saga was published, a 2003 letter by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger emerged. It was a reply to German author Gabriele Kuby who wrote a book expressing concern that children can become fascinated with the occult through reading the Harry Potter series.
The cardinal, now Pope Benedict, thanked her for sending him a copy and praised the author's attempt to "enlighten people about Harry Potter" and the possible "subtle seductions" that could distort children's thinking. Cardinal Ratzinger did not say if he had read any of the Harry Potter books.
Italian newspapers covered the news lavishly, billing a clash of the titans between Pope Benedict and Harry Potter, coming only a few months after the Vatican railed against Dan Brown's bestseller The Da Vinci Code. Famiglia Cristiana said Christians might object to details in Rowling's books but basically they should be taken for what they were: a product of contemporary consumer culture.
"This doesn't mean that, guided by his faith, a believer cannot criticise aspects of Harry Potter, thus helping children to read critically. But it's wrongheaded to claim that these products of popular culture lead to occultism or satanism," it said.
The books have already sold about six million copies in Italy and the four films have played to packed cinemas.
