I'm sure you've seen the headlines in the news recently... JK Rowling's Harry Potter condemned in Vatican newspaper, Harry Potter, wrong model of a hero, Vatican newspaper says, Vatican: 'Harry Potter is wrong kind of hero'., Vatican hits out at the Harry Potter 'lie' and EVIL HARRY POTTER, BY THE VATICAN among others.

So what's the deal? Did the Vatican hit out at Harry Potter? No.

What actually happened is that two writers, Paolo Gulisano (who doesn't work for the Vatican) and Edoardo Rialti (who doesn't work for the Vatican) wrote articles about Harry Potter which were published in the Vatican newspaper. One wrote a pro-Potter story, the other opposed him. The actual true story is described in this article from the Catholic New Service (who are also not the Vatican):

Writers in Vatican newspaper debate lessons of Harry Potter novels

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican newspaper sponsored a face-off between a writer who said the Harry Potter novels offer lessons in the importance of love and self-giving and one who said they teach that with secret knowledge one can control others and the forces of nature.

The newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, dedicated a full page in its Jan. 14-15 issue to the debate about the novels by J.K. Rowling. The Italian translation of the last novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," was released in early January.

Paolo Gulisano, a physician and the author of a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, said that the Harry Potter books counter the individualism of the modern age by making a hero of a boy "guided by moral values such as the choice of good, giving, sacrifice, friendship and love."

The stories, he said, teach young people "without moralizing" that material riches, immortality and anything obtained without effort "are illusions and that what truly counts is commitment, friendship and love."

"It is not power, not success, not an easy life that lead to the truest and deepest joy, but friendship, self-giving and adhering to the truth," he said.

But Edoardo Rialti, a professor of English literature at the University of Florence, said the books "communicate a vision of the world and of the human person that is full of profound errors and dangerous suggestions."

First, he said, the books teach that "evil is good," and that violence, lying, trickery and manipulation can be positive if used to obtain something good.

But the deeper problem, he said, is that the books advocate gnosticism, the idea that a select elite can develop special powers and gifts through specialized knowledge that is hidden from most mortals -- or "muggles," as normal humans are called in Rowling's books.

[source]

Yawn. The real news here is how manipulative the press have been with the facts. How do you go from "two writers debate the Harry Potter books" to "Vatican hits out at the Harry Potter 'lie'". You don't. Unless you are looking for even the tiniest of excuses to make the Pope look like an Evil Nazi Bastard.