Vatican Charmed by Potter

Though rarely a fan of wizards and witches, the Vatican has declared the latest Harry Potter film a positive tale of “friendship, altruism, loyalty" that achieves the "correct balance" in depicting teen romance, reports the Guardian. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, opening today, makes clear that good must overcome evil "and that sometimes this requires costs and sacrifice," said a review in the Holy See's newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

Just four years ago Cardinal Ratzinger—soon to become the pope—condemned the Potter saga as a "subtle seduction" that "distorts Christianity in the soul," reports the Baltimore Sun.
(More Harry Potter stories.)