The latest movie in vampire saga Twilight is a 'deviant moral vacuum', the Vatican said yesterday.
New Moon, which opens in Britain today, is a 'mixture of excesses aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element', a spokesman added.
The blockbuster opened on Wednesday in Italy and took £1.8million at the box office.
'Deviant': The Vatican claims vampire flick New Moon, which stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (pictured), occupies a 'moral vacuum'
'This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern.'
The attack comes three weeks after the Catholic Church in Italy condemned Halloween as 'anti-Christian and dangerous' and urged parents not to dress their children as ghosts and goblins.
In the past, the Vatican has also attacked the Harry Potter books and films. Six years ago, Pope Benedict XVI criticised the 'subtle seductions' in J.K. Rowling's stories, which could ' corrupt the Christian faith' in impressionable young children.
Last year Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano ran an editorial attacking the teen wizard-as 'the wrong kind of hero'. But in a U-turn four months ago it published an article approving of the latest big screen installment, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The film managed to 'distinguish between good and evil', it said.
Cardinals also urged people not to see or read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, which they said was an insult to Christianity. The Vatican denied film crews access to churches in Rome when they wanted to shoot sequel Angels and Demons last year.
Twilight, based on books by U.S. author Stephanie Meyer, tells the story of a romance between vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).
