Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope Benedict XVI, in a letter made public by a German Catholic sociologist, wrote the fear the young wizard story could have in 'corrupting' the Christian faith before it has grown.
"It is good that you shed light and inform us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable and precisely because of that deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it could properly grow and mature," Cardinal Ratzinger wrote.
He went on saying he feared people who read the book could lose the spirit of 'discernment' between good and evil because they do not have the necessary strength and knowledge to withstand the temptations to evil, reported a News Ltd. paper.
However, there are some Christians who disagree with the pope's view that the series is a stumbling block to believers. A Church of England youth worker, Owen Smith, has written a guide to be used by Christians to evangelise people from the movie.
Mr. Smith retorts the pope's remark that young Christians do not have the knowledge to read the book by saying it underestimates the ability of children to separate the real from imaginary.
"To say, as some have, that these books draw younger readers towards the occult seems to me both to malign J. K. Rowling and to vastly underestimate the ability of children and young people to separate the real from the imaginary," he adds.
He goes further, saying the book was good for evangelism given it drew parallel between the world of Harry and the current world. The magic, which J.K. Rowling was using, could be compared to other Christian writers such as C.S. Lewis.
"These sessions draw parallels between events in the world of Harry and his friends, and the world in which we are seeking to proclaim the gospel to young people," Smith writes. "The magic in the books is simply part of the magic that J. K. Rowling has created, in the same way that magic is part of the world of Christian writers such as C. S. Lewis.
The Harry Potter series is one of the highest grossing films at all time where the books had each broke records in generating enormous wealth to the author.