Harry Potter is unsafe for Christians Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online

Focusing on Tolkien, Harry Potter and Others - Council for Culture Joins in Event on English Literature

https://zenit.org/articles/focusing-on-tolkien-harry-potter-and-others/
Vatican City, May 9, 2006

Writers, literary critics and Church figures are gathered in Rome to analyze 20th-century English literature and answer the question: "Is there an authentic distinction in literature between reality and fantasy?" These and other questions will be addressed during a study day on the theme "Catholicism and Literature in the 20th Century."

This year the meeting, promoted by the Pontifical Council for Culture, and organized with the Institute of the Italian Encyclopedia, is being held in the institute's Igea Room, in Rome. The two-day meeting, the seventh of its kind, ends Wednesday. "From the literary point of view, did the 1900s see the triumph of realism or the return to fantasy?" asks a press statement from the pontifical council. "The century of Proust, Svevo and Joyce was also marked by the popular success of the sagas of Tolkien and Lewis, to say nothing of the two major literary phenomena at the dawn of the new millennium: 'Harry Potter' and 'The Da Vinci Code,'" it states. Two questions stand out among those that will be addressed at the meeting: "Is it possible to be discerning in the 'mare magnum' [vast sea] of fantasy writing? And how does this task connect to the spiritual and moral dimension of literature?" The meeting was presented today by Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Focus on Newman Among the speakers are Oxford professors and writers Leonie and Stratford Caldecott, as well as Italian literary critics Paolo Gulisano and Andrea Monda, and Jesuit Father Gerald O'Collins, professor of theology at the Gregorian University. The meeting is highlighting in particular the writings of English Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), whose influence was decisive on 20th-century literature. Graham Greene called him the "patron of Catholic novelists."

Newman's "'children' are those authors who have managed to combine a taste for fantasy with adherence to the Christian vision," said the pontifical council's communiqué. "Some are well known, such as Tolkien and Lewis, but others, such as Chesterton, who died 70 years ago, deserve more attention." It added that the meeting is reflecting "critically on these authors in order to shed light on the media phenomenon connected to their works."

The Subtle Magic of C.S. Lewis' Narnia - Michael Coren's Perspective as New Movie Looms
https://zenit.org/articles/the-subtle-magic-of-c-s-lewis-narnia/

Toronto, December 7, 2005

"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" may provide an opportunity for adults to talk about the faith, but don't expect children to notice the film's Christian themes. So says Michael Coren, author, columnist and broadcaster who recently wrote "C.S. Lewis: The Man Who Created Narnia" (Ignatius), a biography of Lewis written for teens. Coren told ZENIT how mostly adults will understand Lewis' subtle Christian allegory, and how "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" has the power to plant seeds of faith in kids just the same.
Q: What do Catholics need to know about C.S. Lewis?
Coren: They should know he wasn't a Catholic, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have become one eventually. G.K. Chesterton became a Catholic in 1922 but had really been one for 20 years. Lewis was born in Belfast, in sectarian Northern Ireland, so he was raised anti-Catholic like most Protestant children there. He was a man of his background but his views were very Catholic: He believed in purgatory, believed in the sacraments, went to confession. Otherwise, he was the finest Christian apologist in modern times and could communicate the Gospel message in a thoughtful, accessible way.
Q: How blatantly does C.S. Lewis use Aslan as the figure of Christ in the Narnia series?
Coren: He does and he doesn't. Unlike many modern Christian writers, Lewis was subtle and implicit. When I read the book as a little boy I was overwhelmed by the greatness of it, but I didn't realize the Christian message until I was an adult.
It's explicit when you're older, but I don't think we should necessarily be pointing it out to children; we can let them find it themselves. They don't need a running commentary. Let them read it and be overwhelmed by it and not realize what they're really getting at the moment.
Q: What are some of the most notable parallels between Jesus and Aslan the Lion in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"?
Coren: There are many in this book and the other six in the series, but some obvious ones are: the breaking of the stone table and the old law being shattered; how it is winter but never Christmas, and it doesn't become Christmas until Aslan arrives; how Aslan dies for a sinner, a little boy who represents everyone, and takes away his sins; and how Aslan comes to life again and re-creates the world. In the scene before Aslan's sacrifice for the little boy, Edmund, the White Witch says, "Because he has sinned, he is mine," and she intends to kill Edmund. And Aslan says, "But I can give myself in his place." She agrees to this and kills him, but then he is resurrected.
Q: What can we learn from Lewis about the integration of popular fiction and Christian values? Do you hope modern writers might follow suit?
Coren: J.K. Rowling has said that Lewis had a huge influence on her, yet many people have problems with Harry Potter. I've heard many writers say they've been influenced by Lewis and they try to copy him. It is often too similar; all these books are pale imitations. He was of his age and wrote at a specific time in history. Some of his characters would not translate into modern times. If someone wrote a book today with those characters, kids wouldn't be able to relate to them. He was a man of 1963.
Q: What is the significance of another Christian film coming out of Hollywood, on the coattails of "The Passion of the Christ"?
Coren: I don't think "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is a "Christian" film; we have to be careful with calling it that. I don't believe "The Passion" produced this movie -- I think "The Lord of the Rings" did.
What is more significant is why there have been no biblical movies after "The Passion." They could make a really bad movie and it would do well financially because there is such a hunger for Christian movies out there.
But Hollywood would rather do anything than make a movie with Christian values. It is a wonder that nothing has come after "The Passion."
Q: What are your hopes -- and fears -- for "The Lion"? Do you expect it to bear fruit as a witness to Christ and the Gospel message?
Coren: I haven't been able to see any special early screenings of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" up here in Canada; the Christian world is not as organized or influential like in the States. I will be going to the midnight screening on Dec. 8 with everyone else. I have no fears about the movie. There will always be some Christians who define their faith by what they are offended by, and nothing is ever pure enough for them. There will be people who say this or that is wrong, and some who think the movie should not have been made. I think the movie will be a helpful way to talk about Christianity. People will read Lewis, talk about faith and the movie and other good things.

I read the book when I was 6 or 7. I wasn't raised in a Christian family and had no exposure to Christianity. Twenty years later I came into my faith and I am convinced the seeds were planted by that book. I believe my faith began then. But we can't expect someone to see the movie, have an evangelical experience, and come out of the theater on their knees and say "Save me!" We shouldn't think it will change everything -- what did "The Passion" change? They are only movies. The Holy Spirit can use a movie but it doesn't need to.

Don Bosco and Harry Potter or A Fiendish elephant

http://www.sspxasia.com/Newsletters/2001/Oct-Dec/Don_Bosco_and_Harry_Potter.htm

Newsletter of the District of Asia, October-December 2001 (Biographical Memoirs, Vol. VII, page 212ff)

We are publishing here a dream of Don Bosco in the context of today’s craze about Harry Potter. 
Magic and witches can be very fun at the beginning, but soon or late they will turn very nasty.

From the very beginning of the Oratory, Don Bosco had started the custom of giving a spiritual strenna or gift to his boys and co-workers on the last day of the year.  It took the form of a motto or slogan to be practiced in the year then about to dawn. This custom is still kept by Don Bosco's successors upright is the Lord," says the psalmist: "He shows sinners the way, He guides the humble to justice, He teaches the humble His way." (Ps. 24:8-9).

Since he had not been able to give the annual strenna to his pupils on the last day of the year 1862, Don Bosco promised to do so on the evening of the Feast of the Epiphany.  Therefore, on Tuesday, January 6, 1863, after the night prayers, as all artisans and students eagerly awaited him, Don Bosco mounted the platform and addressed them:

Tonight I should give you the strenna.  Every year around Christmas I regularly beg God to suggest a strenna that may benefit you all. In view of your increased number, I doubled my prayers this year. The last day of the year (Wednesday) came and went, and so did Thursday and Friday, but nothing came to me. On Friday night, January 2, I went to bed exhausted, but could not fall asleep. The next morning I arose from bed worn out and almost half dead, but I did not feel upset over it. Rather, I was elated, knowing from past experience that a very bad night is usually a forewarning that Our Lord is about to reveal something to me. That day I went on with my work at Borgo Cornalese; the next day, by early evening, I arrived back here. After hearing Confessions, I went to bed. Tired from my work at Borgo and from not sleeping the night before, I soon dozed off. Now began the dream which will give you your strenna.

The Enormous Elephant

My dear boys, I dreamed that it was a feast day afternoon and that you were all busy playing, while I was in my room with professor Thomas Vallauri (a contemporary lexicographer, prominent literary man and dear friend of Don Bosco) discussing literature and religion. Suddenly, there was a knock at my door. I rose quickly and opened it. My mother - dead now for six years - was standing there. Breathlessly, she gasped, "Come and see! Come and see!"

"What happened?" I asked.

"Come! Come!" she replied.

I dashed to the balcony. Down in the playground, surrounded by a crowd of boys, stood an enormous elephant.

"How did this happen?" I exclaimed. "Let's go down!"

Professor Vallauri and I looked at each other in surprise and alarm and then raced downstairs. As was only natural, many of you had run to the elephant. It seemed meek and tame. Playfully it lumbered about, nuzzling the boys with its trunk and cleverly obeying their orders, as though it had been born and raised at the Oratory. Very many of you kept following it about and petting it, but not all. In fact, most of you were scared and fled from it to safety. Finally, you hid in the church. I too tried to get in through the side door which opens into the playground, but as I passed Our Lady's statue beside the drinking fountain and touched the hem of her mantle for protection, she raised her right arm. Vallauri did likewise on the other side of the statue, and the Virgin raised her left arm. I was amazed, not knowing what to think of such an extraordinary thing.
The Enemy of the Holy Eucharist

When the bell rang for church service, you all trooped in. I followed and saw the elephant standing at the rear by the main entrance. After Vespers and the sermon, I went to the altar, assisted by Fr. Alasonatti and Fr. Savio, to give Benediction. At the solemn moment when you all deeply bowed to adore the Blessed Sacrament, the elephant - still standing at the end of the middle aisle - knelt down too, but with its back to the altar.

Once services were over, I tried to dash out to the playground and see what would happen, but I was detained by someone. A while later, I went out through the side door which opens into the porticoes and saw you at your usual games. The elephant too had come out of the church and had idled over to the second playground where the new wing is under construction. Mark this well, because this is precisely the place where the grisly scene I am going to describe occurred.

At that moment, at the far end of the playground, I saw a banner followed processionally by boys. It bore in huge letters the inscription “Sancta Maria, succurre miseris! Holy Mary, help your forlorn children!” To everybody's surprise, that monstrous beast, once so tame, suddenly ran amuck. Trumpeting furiously, it lunged forward, seized the nearest boys with its trunk, hurled them into the air or flung them to the ground and then trampled them underfoot. Though horribly mauled, the victims were still alive. Everybody ran for dear life. Screams and shouts and pleas for help rose from the wounded. Worse - would you believe it? - some boys who were spared by the elephant, rather than aid their wounded companions, joined the monstrous brute to find new victims.

Under Her Mantle

As all this was happening (I was standing by the second arch of the porticle, near the drinking fountain), the little statue that you see there (the statue of the Blessed Virgin) became alive and grew to life-size. Then, as Our Lady raised her arms, her mantle spread open to display magnificently embroidered inscriptions. Unbelievably, it stretched far and wide to shelter all those who gathered beneath it. The best boys were the first to run to it for safety. Seeing that many were in no hurry to run to her, Our Lady called aloud, “Venite ad me omnes! Come all to me!” Her call was heeded, and as the crowd of boys under the mantle increased, so did the mantle spread wider. However, a few youngsters kept running about and were wounded before they could reach safety. Flushed and breathless, the Blessed Virgin continued to plead, but fewer and fewer were the boys who ran to her. The elephant, meanwhile, continued its slaughter, aided by several lads who dashed about, wielding one sword or two and preventing their companions from running to Mary. The elephant never even touched these helpers.

Meanwhile, prompted by the Blessed Virgin, some boys left the safety of her mantle in quick sorties to rescue some victims. No sooner did the wounded get beneath Our Lady's mantle than they were instantly cured. Again and again several of those brave boys, armed with cudgels; went out and, risking their lives, shielded the victims from the elephant and its accomplices until nearly all were rescued.

The playground was now deserted, except for a few youngsters lying about almost dead. At one end by the portico, a crowd of boys stood safe under the Virgin's mantle. At the other stood the elephant with some ten or twelve lads who had helped it wreak such havoc and who still insolently brandished swords.

Suddenly rearing up on its hind legs, the elephant changed into a horrible, long-horned specter and cast a black net over its wretched accomplices. Then, as the beast roared, a thick cloud of smoke enveloped them, and the earth suddenly gaped beneath them and swallowed them up.
Promises and Maxims

I looked for my mother and professor Vallauri to speak to them, but I could not spot them anywhere. Then I turned to look at the inscriptions on Mary's mantle and noticed that several were actual quotations or adaptations of Scriptural texts. I read a few of them:

Qui elucidant me vitam aeternam habebunt - They that explain me, shall have life everlasting. (Eccles. 24:31).

Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam - He who finds me, will find life. (Prov. 8:35).

Si quis est parvulus, veniat ad me - Whoever is a little one, let him come to me. (Prow 9:4).

Refugium peccatorum - Refuge of sinners.

Salus credentium - Salvation of believers.

Plena omnis pietatis, mansuetudinis et misericordiae - Full of piety, meekness and mercy.

Beati qui custodiunt vias meas - Blessed are they that keep my ways. (Prow 8:32).
Avoid Foul Talk

All was quiet now. After a brief silence, the Virgin, seemingly exhausted by so much pleading, soothingly comforted and heartened the boys and, quoting the inscription I had inscribed at the base of the niche, “Qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt”, she went on:

“You heeded my call and were spared the slaughter wrought by the devil on your companions. Do you want to know what caused their ruin? Sunt colloquia prava: Foul talk and foul deeds. You also saw your companions wielding swords. They are those who seek your eternal damnation by enticing you from me, just as they did with some schoolmates of yours.

But “quos Deus diutius exspectat durius damnat - those for whom God keeps waiting longer, He punishes more severely.” The infernal demon enmeshed and dragged them to eternal perdition. Now, go in peace, but remember my words: Flee from companions who befriend Satan, avoid foul conversation, have boundless trust in me. My mantle will always be your safe refuge.”

Our Lady then vanished; only her beloved statuette remained. My deceased mother reappeared. Again the banner with the inscription, Sancta Maria, succurre miseris, was unfurled.  Marching processionally behind, the boys sang “Laudate Maria, O lingue fideli - Praise Mary, O ye faithful tongues.” Shortly afterwards, the singing waned and the whole scene faded away. I awoke in a sweat. Such was my dream.

My sons, now it is up to you to draw your own strenna. Examine your conscience. You will know if you were safe under Mary's mantle, or if the elephant flung you into the air, or if you were wielding a sword. I can only repeat what the Virgin said: “Venite ad me omnes - "Come all to me”. Turn to her; call on her in any danger. I can assure you that your prayers will be heard. Those who were so badly mauled by the elephant are to learn to avoid foul talk and bad companions; those who strive to entice their companions from Mary must either change their ways or leave the house immediately. If anyone wants to know the role he played, let him come to my room and I will tell him. But I repeat: Satan's accomplices must either mend their ways or go! Good night!

Don Bosco had spoken with such fervor and emotion that for a whole week afterward the boys kept discussing that dream and would not leave him in peace. Every morning they crowded his confessional; every afternoon they pestered him to find out what part they had played in the mysterious dream.

That this was no dream, but a vision, Don Bosco had himself indirectly admitted when he said: “I regularly beg God to suggest . . . A very bad night is usually a forewarning that Our Lord is about to reveal something to me.” Furthermore, he forbade anyone to make light of what he had narrated.

But there is more. On this occasion he made a list of the wounded and of those who wielded one or two swords. He gave it to Celestine Durando, instructing him to watch them. The cleric handed the list over to us, and it is still in our possession. The wounded were thirteen - probably those who had not been rescued and sheltered beneath Our Lady's mantle. Seventeen lads wielded one sword; only three had two. Scattered marginal notes next to a boy's name indicate an amendment of life. Also, we must bear in mind that the dream referred also to the future.

That it mirrored the true state of things was admitted by the boys themselves later on.

Lost Innocence: Movie Shows That Dark Has Arrived With a Spirit of Anti-Christ

https://www.spiritdaily.org/davinci2.htm

Where have you gone, Barney Fife? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

We know where Opie is -- this week, he is at Cannes, in the way of director Ron Howard -- and we know what he just did: that fellow who was the picture of innocence on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days has come to resemble a nation that was likewise innocent and has likewise turned a dark corner. He directed The Da Vinci Code. He needs our prayers, as do the actors involved.

It's all coming down, and you can feel it. We are starting to see more clearly what is what and who is who. At no other time in the nation's history would a movie based on such a harmful and blasphemous book garner this kind of attention. Movies like The Last Temptation of Christ were equally horrid but were shoved off into a genre of the avant garde.

But this is Opie and this is Sony Pictures and bashing Christianity and particularly -- viciously -- Catholicism has become such a norm that we can rightly be concerned about the rise of what many have foreseen for years.

There is the spirit of darkness. The stage is being set for a personage of evil. It is also being set for a purification that is going to tear down the artifice we have arrogantly constructed.

To openly besmirch Jesus -- to cast Him as the father of a child by Mary Magdalene -- and to openly promote the rise of the goddess (with which this evil book apparently concludes as almost an invocation) is the height of arrogance and strong testimony to the rampant atheism or at least antagonism toward Christians that led an actor in the movie, Ian McKellen, to brazenly state Wednesday that instead of a disclaimer on the movie noting that it is fiction, such a disclaimer should be placed on the Bible.

These are people taken seriously by the media and granted the type of respect that was formerly withheld from such ilk and afforded instead to movies like It's a Wonderful Life and The Bells of St. Mary's.

Where have you gone, Jimmy Stewart?

While a nun wearing a brown habit knelt at the red carpet at Cannes this week, praying, in protest, the glitterati of Hollywood looked down upon the crumpled woman and Howard said only that if the movie is likely to upset you, don't go see it. For those who long have seen the rise of anti-Christianity as a prelude to persecution, it is a time of concatenation. Perhaps the word is "precipitation." Evil is precipitating from dark clouds and will lead to a raucous future. It is hardly only this movie. It is books like Potter and theme parks based on a sorcerer's hat and upcoming films like Sacred Evil, along with the standard cartoons defaming the Pope and the biased media coverage of the Church. There is the whiff of persecution and the whiff of an evil personage who may take the stage in the not-too-distant future. Yet as the darkness materializes, so do images of Jesus -- more than ever, in a way that has been gradual but that is gaining momentum. Steadily, Christ is manifesting. He is increasing His Presence. Nature is groaning in anticipation of a manifestation -- however you want to interpret it. A revelation of the invisible is becoming visible. And it is occurring in nature. From Mexico comes the report of believers hiking by the hundreds into the mountains of southern Chiapas to view a rock that some say bears an image of Jesus. A 57-year-old Tzotzil Indian, Gregorio Gomez, discovered the image after a voice told him in a dream last month that he would find it, said the news. It is one of dozens of such recent stories. Ron, take note of that. Be careful. We will pray for you. We will pray for the country that has traveled so far since Opie. But caution, Ron. The Lord is real. He is good. The Da Vinci Code is evil.

Opus Dei says it is just a passing episode. Let's hope so. The Vatican reportedly is in a "raging" debate on what to do about it. One Vatican Cardinal -- in charge of cultural affairs -- called the film a "shocking and worrisome" development. A survey indicates that it can have a profoundly negative effect on faith and in our view we face similar future challenges. That was Britain. In the U.S., another survey claimed it only affected five percent of people who have read the novel -- of which there are 45 million.

We tossed the book halfway through because of the aura it exuded (after glancing at that last page). We don't believe you are dark, Ron, but we do believe you are deceived and pray you will see your way out of it.

As for your advice about not seeing the movie, no worry there; we never had any such intention.