Vatican: Tintin is a Catholic Hero
On Tuesday, the Vatican Newspaper Osservatore Romano put Tintin on the frontpage of its edition. The newspaper calls Tintin was “a hero of Catholicism” who was driven by “a sacred moral imperative – to save the innocent and conquer evil.”
The Osservatore devoted five articles to the young reporter, calling him “a Western knight for modern times”.
Tintin “challenges the arrogance of the powerful, the venality of colonizers, he protects the weak and the oppressed.”
“He’s the guardian angel of Christian values which the West constantly disowns or mocks. Hergé’s creation reflects virtues that priests try to inculcate in the catechism.”
According to the Vatican’s newspaper, Hergé’s books were full of strong Christian characters, such as a missionary in Tintin in the Congo who “in his soutane and white cowl runs a school and cures the sick.”
In his adventures with Captain Haddock, Tintin demonstrated the “universal values of loyalty, fraternity, friendship and the willingness to help those who are weak or needy.”
Click here for an article about Tintin on the Vatican’s official news portal NEWS.VA
Click here to subscribe to SQPN’s podcast about the adventures of Tintin! (iTunes link)
Glenn 11:51 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink |
Yet he’s not perfect. He is human and messes up at times. ie. Picking fights and getting drunk. Which I think is good. Even hero should have shortcomings. It means we can relate to Tintin. He is not completely alien to us.