www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News DA VINCI CODE NOVEL IS FOUGHT BY CHURCH

As far as I am concerned, it is about time! I also just read that Tom Hanks is starring in the film...SHAME on him, he worships in the Greek Orthodox church of his wife!!!

Church fights Da Vinci Code novel

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa
Cardinal Bertone will host a seminar to rebut the book's claims
The Roman Catholic Church in Italy has spoken out against what it says are "shameful and unfounded lies" in the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Archbishop of Genoa, broke the church's official silence on the controversial book.

Its story about the Church suppressing the "truth" that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene has convinced many fans.

But the cardinal's spokesman denied reports that the clergyman was asked by the Vatican to hit back at the book.

Carlo Arcolao told the BBC's News website that it had been the cardinal's own decision to make a public statement about the book.

Mr Arcolao confirmed that the cardinal told an Italian newspaper: "It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies."

The archbishop told Il Giornale: "The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true."

Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code has made author Dan Brown a household name
The book's publishers Random House were currently unavailable for comment.

The Da Vinci Code, by US author Dan Brown, has been a publishing sensation around the world and is still in best-seller lists.

Its conspiracy theories and thriller style, in which two code-breakers try to track down the truth behind the Holy Grail, have caught the imaginations of millions.

Its central claim is that the Holy Grail is really the bloodline descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene - which the Church is supposed to have covered up, along with the female role in Christianity.

Brown has previously said: "All of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact."

'Unmask lies'

On Wednesday, Cardinal Bertone will host a seminar called Storia Senza Storia (Story Without History) to rebut the claims.

He said he wanted "to unmask the lies" so readers could see how "shameful and unfounded" the book was.

The cardinal has been deputy to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the man known as "the Pope's enforcer" and a possible successor to the pontiff.

As well as the original novel, published in 2003, another 10 books have been written to debunk its claims and a booming tourist industry has sprung up around its sites.

It is also being turned into a film starring Tom Hanks, Jean Reno and Audrey Tautou. Publisher Transworld was unavailable for comment.

From the BBC News

The problem with that book is that many who read it don't seem to understand it's fiction. It is not unusual to find people discussing it who think it is fact. The stories in it are nothing new and have been around for some time without serious people believing them. This book, whether intentional or not, seems to have given those stories credibility.

Dear Charles,

I agree with you.

I have met Catholics who are 'fascinated' by the book, and believe it. :rolleyes:

They know little about their own faith (I know more about THEIR faith-sadly to say), will not open a book to catechise themselves, yet will read this garbage and accept it as gospel.

I have already had to teach doctrine of the RC faith to two ladies who read this book.

In Christ,
Alice

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I would like to recommend "The Real History Behind The Da Vinci Code," by medievalist and novelist Sharan Newman.

While there are many Christian (and, indeed, Catholic) books that debunk TDVC, Ms Newman's is better than most because she has no axe to grind. The book is written like an encyclopedic dictionary, with entries on:

1. Apocrypha
2. Aringarosa, Manuel
3. Baphomet
4. Chauvel, Marie
5. Christmas on Dec. 25
6. Cilice
7. Clement V, Pope
8. Cocteau, Jean
9. Codex Leicester
et cetera...

This is worth your money. It not only manages to debunk most of TDVC, but it's written from a scholarly and yet accessible point of view that won't put a "non-believer" off.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

What I find ironic about TDVC, is that its sensational premise is not original. If memory serves, it can be found in another book from the 1980s, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", which purported to tell the true history of the Knights Templar, a religious order which was suppressed by the Church in the Middle Ages, but which is claimed as the ancestor of an appendant body of modern-day freemasons known by the same name.

As far as the premise goes, there was no proof then, and there is no proof now. But, it is harder and harder to distinguish good fiction writing from sleaze nowadays. And many people have trouble distinguishing fiction from truth anyhow. The play and motion picture "Amadeus" is another sad example of mixing truth with fiction, one which to this day distorts some people's understanding of Mozart's life.

I am glad someone within the Church is addressing the book.

Alice and others,

The problem here is that some people can't distinquish the difference between fiction, fact, and sometimes fantasy. It is good the Church is speaking out about it.

It has been almost the same thing with the very popular Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye. Because they were widely read books and to some if it is written (anywhere) it must be true in part anyway or, as they say, 'something to it' - people don't distinquish the difference. Then there are those who just want iconoclastic novels - the more the better. And the negative influence continues.

Good you were able to speak the truth in love to those women and am sure you would have done that for anyone. I have encountered Catholics but mostly other Christians who mistakenly put great value in the Left Behind series which is based on what the Church would consider erroneous biblical interpretations. I have dealt with that as best I could.

Lord have mercy on us all!

Blessings to you and yours.

Your sister in Christ,

Mary Jo +

Thanks Mary Jo,

I guess what really gets me about the book more than anything is saying that our Lord got married.

Ofcourse I do speak very, very timidly, carefully and humbly when trying to educate...I always try to think out my words carefully as religion is a prickly topic, and knowing more than an other (on any subject) can offend some types of women--so it must be done carefully. I always try to take into account who I am talking to...

On the other hand, in my Bible Study, where we are all Christians seeking truth, I am free to come on just a bit more emphatically about such subjects as this book.

With much love in Christ,
Alice

I think the Church should speak out about the inaccuracies of the book. But to do without attaching the book, author or those who feel it was an exciting book. Condemning the book and its author makes Catholics look like defensive weirdo's. It is Fiction for heaven sakes! It�s not supposed to be taken as a factual attack on the Church. Most intelligent people, like me who have read the book, know its fiction. I thought the book was an exciting read. And it did raise some issues where one may question certain things about the Church. However, the church attacking someone who may paint a different view is wrong. The church's stance should be question all you want; you'll find we have the truth. The church should say "I hope all realize this is fiction and the truth is ____� that is a much more intelligent way of approaching this matter.

If nobody questioned the church we would still believe that the earth is the center of the universe. It�s hard to feel comfortable with a Church that is more interested in maintaining power and authority, than it is with maintaining a consistent loving example of Christ.

From Zenit

Code: ZE05031607

Date: 2005-03-16

Vatican Crusade Against "Da Vinci Code"? Hardly

Clarifications About Debate Organized by Genoa Archdiocese

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 16, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Newspapers and agencies worldwide have announced over the past two days that the Vatican has launched a crusade against Dan Brown's best seller "The Da Vinci Code."

In fact, what happened is that the Office for Culture and the University of the Archdiocese of Genoa simply organized a debate on the book today, entitled "The Da Vinci Code ... Stories Without History."

Given the repercussions of this initiative, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, archbishop of Genoa, gave an interview Tuesday to Vatican Radio and said, "One cannot be a modern young person without having read 'The Da Vinci Code.'"

"We are aware of the circulation of this book in schools and, for this reason, have taken measures of reflection and also of public, open and determined confrontation," said the cardinal, a former secretary of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The cardinal attributed the success of Brown's book to a visible strategy, especially after the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

"The Church, with our Pope John Paul II, has made an exceptional impact on present-day humanity, and this has bothered many," he noted.

"The strategy of distribution is the result of absolutely exceptional 'marketing,' including in Catholic bookstores," the cardinal said. "I have complained to Catholic bookstores which, for the sake of profit, display piles of this book.

"And, then, there is the strategy of persuasion: You are not an adult Christian if you don't read this book."

Cardinal Bertone mentioned sociologist Philip Jenkins, who says that the success of the book is one more proof that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice.

"I wonder," said the cardinal, "what would have happened if a book like this had been written, full of lies, on the Buddha or Mohammed or even, for example, if a novel had been published that manipulated the history of the Holocaust."

The debate held today was entitled "The Da Vinci Code -- Stories Without History."

The event's guest speaker Massimo Introvigne, founder and director of the Turin-based Center of Studies on New Religions, sent a written response to ZENIT about the book's historical errors.

Introvigne said that it was necessary to refute the work's errors because it has a page entitled "Fact," where the author Dan Brown asserts that all the descriptions of documents and secret rituals in the novel are accurate and are based, specifically, on the claim that in 1975, the Biblioth�que Nationale of Paris discovered parchments, known as Les Dossiers Secrets, which reveal the story of the Priory of Sion.

"The Da Vinci Code" implies that Opus Dei is a "sect" which has entered into conflict with the Church in terms of its knowledge of the Priory of Sion's secrets.

"In the first place, nobody can conceivably blackmail others on the basis of the 'secrets of the Priory of Sion,' which basically do not exist," wrote Introvigne. "These alleged secrets are part of a hoax which proceeds from Plantard to de S�de, from de S�de to Lincoln, and from Lincoln to Dan Brown.

"In terms of the Opus Dei -- where, by the way, there are no 'monks,' contrary to what Dan Brown proposes in his book -- not only it is an institution approved and praised by the Catholic Church, but its founder, Jos� Mar�a Escriv� (1902-1975), has been canonized as a saint by the Pope in 2002.

"Dan Brown's 'information' comes from an association of ex-members and other people hostile to the Opus Dei, known as The Opus Dei Awareness Network (ODAN), mentioned explicitly in the novel, which is connected to a much larger 'anti-cult movement.' ... ODAN's aggressive opinions on Opus Dei and its founder are in no way shared by the Catholic hierarchy."

Introvigne said he believes that "The Da Vinci Code" has had such enormous success because it "brings together two types of social 'tastes' which appear to be quite widespread": "on the one hand, the notion of 'conspiracies' and secret societies that dominate the world; and, on the other hand, an increasingly unashamed and virulent anti-Catholicism."

An interview with Introvigne on the historical errors of "The Da Vinci Code" is posted at www.cesnur.org/2005/mi_02_03d.htm. [cesnur.org]

I have no idea WHY people read this sort of drivel, when there are so many worthy works of literature out there. I wonder if the Da Vinci Code craze is like much of the New Age movement -i.e., why trust in Jesus when you can trust in hocus pocus and crystals? :-(

hocus-pocus and rocks don't require very much from anyone, do they? I suspect that's part of their appeal.

Since November I have been working as a journalist for a magazine about books. The Da Vinci Code has hit Portugal as much as any other country, there have been a lot of hot discussions amongst catholics, friends and family, debates and so on.
Working for this magazine I have seen first hand the ridiculous amount of spin-offs that this phenomenon has produced. It is hard to find a new book without Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Nights Templar and other such words in the title.
The most ridiculous thing is that in 5 years nobody will remember this book.

I have not read the book, fads tend to annoy me (I have resisted Harry Potter as well) but I know enough about it already to agree that it is full of historical distortions and mistakes.
So? So are a lot of other books! Phillip Pullman is clearly anti-clerical in his writing, as are many other authors. Even I have written short stories with theological twists which I am quite sure are incorrect, but make for interesting stories.
The big difference, in my opinion, is the author's intention. If Dan Brown is an honest man who decided to write a work of fiction which just seems to have got out of hand, then fine.
Howeve (and this is what I suspect) if Dan Brown wrote a book with intentional twists, suggestions and "factoids" with the aim of subverting and attaking the church, then he will be held accountable by God. Of course, only the Lord can really know what was in his heart.

If someone wrote a "fictional" novel about you, entitled "The Truth About MKE" or something like that, in which the author alleges that you are in the habit of doing all sorts of unsavory or criminal things and are a really bad person, I don't think that you would be mollified very easily by the claim, "It's Fiction for heaven sakes." Nor would you take kindly to being called a defensive wierdo.

Try to think of it this way: the Church knows that this book contains all manner of lies and BS about the Church and its history and about Christ Himself, the Church knows that everybody on every airplane and in every cafe is reading the darn thing, and the Church desires to respond. What's wrong with that?

LatinTrad

I agree with you, Latin Trad.

And, if the inaccuracies about the Catholic Church don't get to you, surely the BLASPHEMY about our Lord should!

I also read on BBC News that there are even some Catholic bookstores that carry this trash!

It was about time that they were addressed ( and they were categorically identified by the good Cardinal) and that the fiction behind this book was addressed. I am sick of seeing its cover in every possible venue of book selling one can imagine.

It is promoting HERESY about the Christ to thousands of marginal Christians.

In Christ,
Alice

I'm with MKE. The Da Vinci Code is fiction. The coyright page is clear about that. How do you debunk fiction?

The more attentiom you pay to a book the NY Times reviewer called "...Perfect for conspiracy nuts..." the more Da Vinci Code books will sell.

Ignore it. It will go the way af all trashy novels--forgotten.