Vatican slams Golden Compass

London (ANI): The official Vatican Daily l"Osservatore Romano has slammed the newly released Nicole Kidman-Daniel Craig starrer 'The Golden Compass" and the book series on which the movie was made. 'The Golden Compass," fantasy film based upon Northern Lights, the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy 'His Dark Materials," has been called the 'most anti-Christmas film possible," by the newspaper.

The Vatican daily blasted director Chris Weitz"s adaptation, saying that 'honest" viewers 'gifted with a critical spirit" will find the movie 'devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill." “In Pullman"s world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," Variety quoted the newspaper, as stating.

The Vatican in its long editorial further slammed Pullman, a well known British atheist whose books have ruffled the feathers of the U.S.-based Catholic League, which has also called for a boycott of the pic. The newspaper also stated that since the film has received lukewarm response, they are hoping that the feedback would force New Line to cancel plans to shoot the remainder of the trilogy. “If that should happen, it wouldn"t be a big loss," the newspaper stated.