L'Osservatore Romano hailed the Belgian boy reporter as a "Catholic hero" and said it was ridiculous that the comic book had been "wrapped up like a pornographic magazine and consigned to the adults-only section" of book shops in the UK.
The newspaper, which generally reflects the view of the Vatican, asked whether the act of censorship – on the grounds that the comic is racist – was "an appropriate protection of the defenceless children of Her Majesty, or politically correct lunacy in the shadow of Big Ben."
The book, published by Egmont, is being sold in Britain with a protective band around it, warning that its portrayal of Africans as wide-eyed simpletons would offend some readers and was based on "the bourgeois, paternalistic stereotypes of the period."
But an editorial in L'Osservatore Romano said: "It is essential to take into account the historical context to avoid entering the realm of the ridiculous," arguing that the book by Herge, the Belgian artist whose real name was George Remi, reflected the values prevalent in Europe between the wars.
"The comic book was published in the 1930s, and for that reason expresses the values of the era – but can it really perturb young Britons of today, raised as they are on the internet, video games and fish and chips?"
If retrospective political correctness was taken to its logical conclusion then scouting should be banned because the movement was founded by Lord Baden Powell, who as well as being "a military man and a writer was also a racist and a eugenicist," the newspaper said. » | Nick Squires, Rome | Tuesday, November 08, 2011
