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| Harry Potter |
"It is good that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because these are subtle seductions which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly," Benedict wrote to Gabriele Kuby, who has written a book called Harry Potter — Good or Evil?.
The full text of the pope's two brief letters to Ms. Kuby, a supposedly "devout Catholic," may be read here. They were written in 2003 while the pope was still Cardinal Ratzinger.
My problem is, I don't see how stories of personal heroism in which the protagonist, young Harry, is called upon to resist the evil inherent in his powerful antagonist, Lord Voldemort, "deeply distort Christianity in the soul." Where is the "subtle seduction" in fighting evil?
It's not as if Harry thrusts himself forward with an eye to personal glory. Just the opposite. He fully realizes that his adventures force him to violate the rules set out for him and his fellow students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He completely grasps the perils of using the magic he as yet so little understands. But he seems to find that destiny won't let him stand idly by while malignity prevails, menacing the very order of life and every innocent soul beholden to it.
What could be more Christian than that — to put oneself at the greatest risk to save others?
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