The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano adds up to the numerous critiques “Golden Compass” has received since its release. The movie, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green and Sam Elliott, has been called “anti-Christmas” by the newspaper and “atheistic by Kiera McCaffrey, the director of communications of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

The story is based on the first book of the trilogy “His Dark Materials”, called “The Northern Lights”, and focuses on Lyra, an orphan living in a parallel universe, where the evil trying to dominate everything is called “Magisterium”.

The numerous controversies on the movie materialized in ardent declarations and pamphlets by different religious organizations that call both the film and the books anti-Catholic and anti-religious.

61-year-old Philip Pullman, author of the mentioned trilogy, is known to be an atheist, but says that his books do not target any religion or individual in particular, but rather totalitarianism in all its forms, from communism to theocracy.

Referring to his work, the British author wrote: “It doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded inquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression.”

Although the “Golden Compass” does not clearly refer to the Catholic Church (“Magisterium”) or its representatives (priests, bishops), the various religious organizations have been offended by the anti-religious and anti-Christian display of the film and strongly advise parents to think twice before they allow their children to view the movie.

Most viewers may see this as a futuristic image of an evil organization rather than a religious council whose only purpose is to hurt children and control the world in its thirst for power. But McCaffrey doesn’t agree. She is convinced that the idea the book is based on is that “church is an evil institution, bent on destroying good feelings.”