In an unusual move Pope Benedict XVI has backtracked over the appointment as bishop of an ultra-conservative Austrian priest who has said the Harry Potter novels and films are "Satanic" and that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for the sinful ways of New Orleans.

In January the Pope appointed Father Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, to the post of auxiliary bishop at Linz in Austria.The move subsequently sparked an outcry, which embarrassed the Vatican at a time when it was also embroiled in controversy over the Pope's decision to lift the excommunication of four ultra-conservative bishops opposed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including Bishop Richard Williamson, who denies that millions of Jews died in Nazi gas chambers.

Father Wagner had suggested that the "noticeable" increase in natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina which devastated New Orleans four years ago was the result of human "spiritual pollution". He later said he had decided not to take the post at Linz "in the interests of the church", and would continue in his job as parish priest in the Austrian town of Windischgarsten.

The Vatican said the Pope accepted this and had "exonerated" Father Wagner "from accepting the office of Linz auxiliary bishop". Monsignor Ludwig Schwarz, the diocesan bishop of Linz, said the Vatican's confirmation "officially brings to a close a turbulent period for the Linz diocese and the Austrian church".

The reversal of the Pope's appointment does not affect the doctrine of papal infallibility, which only applies to the Pope's ex cathedra statements on faith and morals, not to administrative or diplomatic matters.