Many critics have felt he'd become too far removed from Fleming's initial character. But maybe this was a reflection on the actor who has incarnated Bond for the last five films. Read more

Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper devoted an entire page and five articles in praise of the fictional British spy in its Oct. 31 edition.

The Osservatore film critic Gaetano Vallini wrote that the James Bond in "Skyfall" is "less of a cliché, less attracted by the pleasures of life, much darker and more introspective."

"And because of this he is more human, even able to be moved and to cry," Vallini wrote.

To honor James Bond is to recognize the character's role in popular culture, said the paper's editor in chief, Giovanni Maria Vian.

He said L'Osservatore Romano's mandate is "to pay attention to the cultural phenomena of our time," whether comics, pop music or film.

James Bond "may be a stylized hero, but he's on the side of good," Vian said in a New York Times report.

"To celebrate 50 years of the world's most famous secret agent - which even the Queen paid homage to at the Olympics - we needed a film that rose to the occasion," said the paper in its review of the latest Bond movie.

"'Skyfall' does not disappoint. The 23rd Bond film is one of the best in the longest cinematic story of all time," the paper added.

The paper also ran an interview with Daniel Craig, who was described as "the 44-year-old Anglo-Saxon actor with deep blue eyes".

Skyfall represented an attempt to bring "more realism" to the Bond formula, the actor said in the interview.

Craig said that his Bond was "very different" from those played by previous actors but that Sean Connery was the main "point of reference."

L'Osservatore Romano, which was founded 151 years ago, used to run only turgid editorials on Catholic saints, articles on theology and notices of the Pope's official engagements.

The Telegraph, however, noted that since a new editor was appointed in 2007 and urged by Pope Benedict XVI to make the publication more relevant, the paper has ventured into popular culture, commenting on everything from Harry Potter to The Blues Brothers.

Sources

• The New York Times
• The Telegraph
• The Guardian
• Image: Columbia Pictures/NYT