When a Catholic school bans the books of the wise Harry Potter because of spells

St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee, has decided to remove the seven books of the Harry Potter saga from the shelves of its library. In question: the magic put forward in the works. Reverend Dan Reehil, who officiates at the facility, made the decision after a parent's complaint, local media reports Tennessean.

The priest explains in an e-mail that several exorcists based in the United States and Rome advised him to remove J.K. Rowling's series of novels from the library shelves.

"Spells used in books are real"

"These books present magic as something good and bad," Dan Reehil writes. This is not true, it is a very clever deception. The charms and bad spells used in the books are real. If they are read by a human being, they may make evil spirits appear to the person reading the text.

Rebecca Hammel, head of schools in the Diocese of Nashville, explains that school priests have the "canonical authority" that allows them to make this kind of decision. "We do not really use censorship aside to make sure that what we offer in our school libraries is age-appropriate," says Hammel.