Four years ago, Harry Potter was condemned by the pope as a corrupter of children, "a subtle seduction, which has deeply unnoticed and direct effects in undermining the soul of Christianity".

Now, it appears the Holy See may be softening its line on the young wizard: the Vatican's official newspaper yesterday praised the latest adaptation of JK Rowling's bestselling books for making clear that good must prevail over evil, and gave its treatment of adolescent passion the thumbs up.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which opens in the US and the UK tomorrow, achieved the "correct balance" in its depiction of teenage romance and made its stars more credible to the general audience, said L'Osservatore Romano. It also praised the movie, directed by British film-maker David Yates, for making it clear that good must overcome evil "and that sometimes this requires costs and sacrifice".

It was the best adaptation yet of Rowling's novels set in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the article added.

The paper has in the past labelled Harry Potter the "wrong model of a hero", comparing the Rowling books unfavourably with two other great British fantasy cycles – CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, both written by Christians with deeply-held beliefs.

The sixth Harry Potter film has the teenaged wizard battling hormones and enemies within Hogwarts as he prepares for his inevitable confrontation with Voldemort.