“Pope Benedict believes the Harry Potter books subtly seduce young readers and ‘distort Christianity in the soul’ before it can develop properly,” according to comments he made to a German writer, reports a Reuters wire story. Author Gabriele Kuby says when she sent the then-Cardinal Ratzinger her 2003 book Harry Potter — Good or Evil?, a book that “attacks J.K. Rowling‘s best selling series,” Benedict wrote back saying, “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.”

• MORE: LifeSiteNews.com, an anti-Harry Potter website, has posted a translation of the letters, and a commentary that notes that in one of the letters, Ratzinger told Kuby to send a copy of her book to a Vatican prelate, Father Peter Fleetwood (Ratzinger insults him in the letter by calling him “Mr. Peter Fleetwood”), who had made a brief but favorable quip about the Potter books in public. The site has also posted scanned copies of the original letters themselves (both in pdf format, and in German): letter of 7 March, 2003, and letter of 27 May 2003.

• RELATED: An Associated Press wire story reports that a W.H. Smith bookstore in London has announced “it would move a launch party planned for the sixth Harry Potter book away from a central London train station that was involved in last week’s terrorist bombings.” The party was to be held at the King’s Cross station, ” which features in the books as the home of Platform 9 3/4 from which Harry and other young wizards take a train to the Hogwarts School.”