Vatican vs. Holywood

What I find funny about this story on the Vatican condemning The Golden Compass is the proximity of the following paragraphs:

In the film version all references to the Church have been stripped out, with director Chris Weitz keen to avoid offending religious cinema goers.

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

Now I actually want to see the movie, but it's been a bit too long since I read the book for me to recall the specifics...