Well, maybe. Seems to me these people, who do have a thing against Harry, overstate the case a bit. Cardinal Ratzinger read a German book criticizing the Harry Potter book, found it persuasive and worth bringing to the attention of a colleague, and was willing to be quoted on that. But it doesn't seem he read any of the books himself, so it's not exactly a definitive statement. He thought the trends denounced in the work of criticism are worth noticing and defending against --but that's not the same as saying they're actually to be found in the books.
A friend of mine, a home-schooling mom, was seated at a fundraising dinner between Fr. Neuhaus and Bishop Chaput, and for some reason they asked her whether she let her kids read HP. She said she hadn't yet because she hadn't had a chance to preview them, but leaned toward yes. "Oh, let them," said Fr. Neuhaus. "Yes, they're just fun stories." said Chaput. So here we have the first known instance of Chaput the Great and Fr. Neuhaus dissenting from Cardinal Ratzinger. Don't hijack the pope for your own hobby-horses, people.
