Vatican backs TinTin

They focus on his alleged deeds rather than on his low opinion of blacks

"The Vatican has dubbed comic book character turned silver screen action hero Tintin a 'Catholic hero' and ridiculed suggestions 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.

L'Osservatore said that accusing the fearless journalist of racism was the 'imagining of an integralist political correctness' after some bookshops in the UK banished Tintin in the Congo to the top shelf and wrapped copies in plastic.

Key to the row is 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.'

The book was not published in English until six years ago and shows the indigenous natives bowing down to the boy reporter Tintin after he smashes a diamond smuggling racket involving Al Capone - with the natives depicted as stupid and with thick lips.

Describing further as to why he was a Catholic hero, the newspaper, which is seen by the Pope before going to press said Tintin was almost an angel saying:'...he seems to have come to earth to defend widows and orphans. 'He challenges the arrogance of the powerful, veniality of the colonizers, protects the weak and oppressed.'

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