Vatican defends Tintin against racist claims

ANI

Rome, 11 November 2011: The Vatican has dubbed comic book character ‘Tintin’ as a ‘Catholic hero’ and slammed suggestions that he may be racist.

 

In its official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican published a picture of the children’s hero beneath one of Pope Benedict XVI and then carried a double page article inside praising Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy, the Daily Mail reported.

 

“Tintin is a hero of Catholicism, imbued with the ideal of the scouts,” the article stated.

The daily asserted that condemning the fearless journalist of racism was the ‘imagining of an integralist political correctness’.

 

The book, Tintin in the Congo has been evicted from some bookshops in the UK to the top shelf and wrapped copies in plastic.

 

The dispute follows the fact that Africans in the book are portrayed as simple and ignorant but the Vatican described it as ‘politically correct delirium in the shadow of Big Ben’.

 

Publishers have carried out the stringent measures – including warning labels on the cover – because they fear the book may have a negative impact on young children.