Crowds of children—and a lot of grownups too, for that matter—stayed up far past their bedtimes last Thursday night in order to snatch up copies of J. K. Rowling's highly anticipated new novel—Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

This will, no doubt, bring back the annual debate amongst Christians about whether or not the films—including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, coming in November—are fairly harmless fairy tales that employ magic as a form of metaphor, or if they are some subversive ploy to bait children into practicing witchcraft.

It turns out that the pope himself may very well have an opinion on the matter. Peter T. Chattaway of FilmChat points us to The Vancouver Sun for news that "a couple of letters … were written by Pope Benedict XVI two years ago, when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger, in which he thanks a German author, Gabriele Kuby, for 'enlighten[ing] us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle, barely perceptible seductions, and precisely because of that they have a profound effect and can corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it [faith] is able to properly grow.'"

You may download copies of these letters at LifeSiteNews.com.

But it may be that these letters are being treated as far more significant than they were intended to be. Catholic writer and blogger Jimmy Akin has a few things to say (here, here, and here) about the integrity of LifeSiteNews.com's reporting on matters related to Potter and the pope. He points out that the letters might have been ghost-written, apparently a common practice, and that the letters do not forbid anyone from reading the books.

In other movie news:

Liam Neeson to provide the voice of Aslan (NarniaWeb.com)
The Oscar nominee (for Schindler's List) will give Narnia's regal lion a voice.

Will Da Vinci film version de-emphasize religious issues? (New York Daily News)
Screenwriter may be downplaying content to avoid a "religious ruckus."

AMC Theaters won't give screen time to movie full of dirty jokes (Reuters)
Theater chain's avoidance of The Aristocrats declared "a business decision."

Will Spielberg's next film "improve the image of the Jewish state"? (Yahoo! News)
Movie is about Israel's counter-terrorism in the wake of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

GetReligion.org considers Happy Endings and "abortion comedies" (Get Religion)
Film stars Lisa Kudrow as mother who chooses adoption over abortion.

Catholic Church in India producing a Bollywood-style film (India Express)
"It is about communal harmony—the film even has a Buddhist character."

Wim Wenders, director of Land of Plenty, on how cinematic art works (Naked Punch)
Acclaimed filmmaker and Christian comments on the importance of "incompleteness."

U.K. fest nixes film on suicide bombers (Yahoo! News)
Organizers won't show Paradise Now out of deference to London bombings.

Swank, Costner to narrate Sept. 11 film (Yahoo! News)
Offer voiceovers for On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report.

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