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The unassailable paragon of morality known as the Catholic Church is officially adding to the chorus of complaints about The Golden Compass with a long editorial in the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano. They're upset because it "promotes a cold and hopeless world without God." (Their displeasure with New Line's fiscal profligacy is unstated but implied. They also thought it was too long.)

It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned "The Da Vinci Code" in 2005 and 2006.

The Vatican newspaper said the film and [author] Pullman's writings showed that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane."

Maybe you've never heard of l'Osservatore Romano, but the broadsheet's a must read for industry players; they're renowned for editorials assailing television's most immoral shows (Desperate Housewives and Nova), as well as top coverage of the executive shuffle ("Nina Jacobson Ankles Mouse House, Going to Hell For Being Gay")