The pope's enthusiastic support for a project to get children to give up their toy guns and play something less warlike sparked a lively discussion among Italian parents on Monday.
The 'Different Game' initiative, organised by a children's magician from the Puglia region, revolves around the idea that playing with plastic pistols goes against a spirit of peace.
Benedict XVI at the weekend congratulated the organisers of the project which, over Christmas and New Year, saw children in the city of Lecce lay down some 6,200 toy firearms.
"Let's preserve childhood from the contagion of violence," said the enthusiastic pontiff, who grew up in war-time Germany.
When mums and dads in Rome were asked about the initiative and the pope's comment, their reactions ranged from cautious agreement to surprise and even irritation.
"That's nonsense," said Francesco Fiermonte, a businessman who has a 10-year-old boy. "Playing with guns helps kids express natural aggression. It doesn't do any harm at all".
Several mothers said they agreed in theory that giving children toy guns to play with was a bad thing. But at the same time they said their own children had toy rifles, swords and other military paraphernalia.
"There's a danger that, by making a big thing out of it, you end up creating an even greater desire for these things. It's like the forbidden fruit," said economics researcher Cecilia Iona.
Michela Ferrucci, a civil servant who has a daughter, said the pope might be right but she doubted whether taking away toy guns would have any impact on the number of wars in the world.
"It's much more important to educate children in values like respect and tolerance," she said.
Many parents noted that children all over the world had always played war games, using sticks when they had no toy weapons. There was something "inevitable" about it, they said.
MOIGE, the Italian parents' association, said the pope's comment was "useful" because it focused attention on an issue which it was worth thinking about.
"As long as these make-believe gun battles happen in a healthy family environment, that's no problem. It can even help kids come to terms with the existence of violence," MOIGE national coordinator, Elisabetta Scala, said.
"There is a problem when commercial pressure means homes become filled with toy guns that look extremely similar to the real thing. Then there is a risk that the line between the game and reality becomes blurred."
The manufacture of toy guns is regulated in Italy by a 1975 law which says they must have a red cap on the end of the barrel and they must not be made in such a way that they can be converted into something that really shoots.
The organiser of 'Different Game', Vito Pati, said his scheme was supported by the education ministry and, although it was a non-religious initiative, was also backed by many in the Catholic Church.
He told Corriere della Sera on Monday that 20 other cities had expressed an interest in repeating the Lecce experience.
"I had the idea one day when a boy watching my magic show asked me to change his pistol into a dove," Pati said.
