Harry goes to Hell

Oh dearie me… The top Vatican exorcist Gabrile Amorth has condemned J K Rowling’s Harry Potter novels for leading poor innocent little children into the waiting arms of Lucifer:

“By reading Harry Potter, a young child will be drawn into magic and from there it is a simple step to Satanism and the devil,” he said.

What century does this fuckwit comes from? Presumably a couple of hundred years ago he would have the Inquisition rounding up Potter readers and torturing them for the good of their own soul. It is nice to see the Catholic church still has that mature and informed viewpoint that equates any form of magic with Satan: I doubt most Wiccans and other magical practicioners would agree (especially since Pagan-based magical rituals predate Christianity and therefore can’t owe any allegiance to Satan since he is a Christian invention, or at least adaptation from older belief systems).

Also seems odd to me since the Bible is full of events which appear to be the working of magic – that neat trick with the loaves and the fishes, raising someone from the dead, water into wine, transubstantiation and of course the time Jesus escaped from a water filled tank in under two minutes. Oh, I think Yvonne is going to have something to say on this…