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Vatican plots battle with Dan Brown over Da Vinci Code sequel
The Times ^ | March 24, 2009 | Richard Owen

Posted on 04/08/2009 7:54:05 AM PDT by presidio9

It was described as a “phantasmagorical cocktail of inventions”, a “masonic plot” and a “pot pourri of lies”. Now a nervous Vatican is braced for the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and the return of its nemesis, Dan Brown.

Angels & Demonsis the latest Brown thriller to be turned into a film, and already the Catholic Church is agonising over how best to respond: to urge the faithful to boycott the film, or to ignore it? The Vatican and the Italian Catholic Church condemned The Da Vinci Codein its book and film version, but some church officials argued that the campaign against it merely boosted the public’s curiosity by giving it the “oxygen of publicity”.

The plot ofAngels & Demonshas all the ingredients to worry the cardinals: a sinister elite known as the Illuminati wants to destroy the Vatican using an antimatter bomb made with material stolen from the physics experiment at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.

The film is to be released in Italy on May 13 and in Britain a day later, as Pope Benedict XVI finishes his tour of the Holy Land. A strong reaction is more likely because the antiDa Vinci campaign was led by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then Archbishop of Genoa and now the Vatican’s Secretary of State – and as such the Pope’s right-hand man. Gianni Gennari, a leading theologian and a columnist for Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops, called on Catholics to boycott Angels & Demons, accusing the film-makers of “exploiting the Church to swell takings at the box office”. He said the film was part of a plot to undermine the credibility of the Church.

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis,

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: angelsanddemons; danbrown; davincicode; hollywood; moviereview; sequel; vatican
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1 posted on 04/08/2009 7:54:06 AM PDT by presidio9
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To: presidio9

Ignore it. It’s fiction. A novel.


2 posted on 04/08/2009 7:57:18 AM PDT by gracesdad
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To: presidio9

It’s fiction..


3 posted on 04/08/2009 7:58:19 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: presidio9
a sinister elite known as the Illuminati wants to destroy the Vatican using an antimatter bomb made with material stolen from the physics experiment at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland

Lovely. So now whenever you get on a flight you'll have to put up with another TSA dunderhead with a wand so you can be scanned for antimatter.

4 posted on 04/08/2009 7:59:17 AM PDT by steve-b (Intelligent design is to evolutionary biology what socialism is to free-market economics.)
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To: presidio9
"Angels & Demonsis"

You misspelled "Demonses."

5 posted on 04/08/2009 8:02:17 AM PDT by TheOldLady
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To: presidio9
Opus Dei, the Catholic sect depicted in The Da Vinci Code as a secret, murderous organisation, denounced its representation and allowed a BBC documentary to be made. The sect's British wing reported a tenfold increase in membership inquiries in 2006

Sorting out real membership inquiries from the flood of idiots wanting to join a secret murderous organization must have been a real PITA for a while.

6 posted on 04/08/2009 8:02:23 AM PDT by steve-b (Intelligent design is to evolutionary biology what socialism is to free-market economics.)
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To: presidio9

If the Catholic Church is “true”, no mere mortal can harm it. So why the fuss?


7 posted on 04/08/2009 8:02:37 AM PDT by An.American.Expatriate (Here's my strategy on the War against Terrorism: We win, they lose. - with apologies to R.R.)
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To: presidio9

Good grief. It’s fiction. Just like the Harry Potter books are fiction. Just like hundreds of thousands of books cataloged in libraries around the world in the “Fiction” section. The wisdom is knowing which battle to pick and this doesn’t constitute so much as a frown much less a battle. The battle is the onslaught of the ROP. The battle is at Notre Dame. The battle is for the lives of innocent babies.


8 posted on 04/08/2009 8:02:47 AM PDT by bgill (This IS my happy face.)
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To: presidio9

I wouldn’t even bother fighting with him. It only makes him money.


9 posted on 04/08/2009 8:03:18 AM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
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To: mnehring

True, but people don’t continue their studies in regards to their religion. As in politics, if people don’t dig for the truth, they will follow what others say. This forces the Church to attempt to protect their people from all the lies that are out there.


10 posted on 04/08/2009 8:03:49 AM PDT by RC2
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To: presidio9
Now a nervous Vatican is braced for the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and the return of its nemesis, Dan Brown.

Please, give me a break.

11 posted on 04/08/2009 8:05:44 AM PDT by frogjerk (NO TAXATION FOR REAMORTIZATION!)
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To: gracesdad

Except for the fact that the snakeoil salesman “author” claims that the garbage he produces is all true.


12 posted on 04/08/2009 8:07:29 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: presidio9

more Catholic bashing

The movie purports that there is a secret society, the Illuminati, which is angry at the Catholic Church because of its alleged anti-science position. The group claims that Galileo is one of its members and they want to blow up the Vatican.

Galileo died almost 150 years before the Illuminati were founded in 1776, but the movie claims 1600.

The Catholic Church was not anti-science and if it wasn’t for them, much of science would not have been preserved.


13 posted on 04/08/2009 8:11:43 AM PDT by cowtowney
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To: mnehring

Jesus really did not die on the cross and rise, he married Mary Magalene a woman who is venerated via various sceret codes ansd rituals and clues by a fanatic secretive cult of the goddess

because she married and had a child with Jesus

who really was a charlatan or a nutter

because he wasn’t divine and all that stuff about his dying on the cross and ascending to heaven was a hoax

so....so...so his descendants are worshipped and venerated and people kill and die to protect their secret bloodline...

are you with me camera guy?

uh, why?

The logic of this entire plot...escaped me


14 posted on 04/08/2009 8:12:22 AM PDT by silverleaf (We live in interesting times: now the entire IRS works for a tax evader)
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To: A.A. Cunningham
Except for the fact that the snakeoil salesman “author” claims that the garbage he produces is all true.

You said it: he's a salesman. It sells books.

15 posted on 04/08/2009 8:13:39 AM PDT by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.)
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To: silverleaf

Its all fun as a fiction novel, but the church is giving this way too much attention, it is making it far more popular. There are hundreds of books that use this plot, but when the church decides to go after it, suddenly, they become best sellers.


16 posted on 04/08/2009 8:16:27 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: presidio9

It’s garbage like this that convinced me to start joining real secret societies.


17 posted on 04/08/2009 8:18:24 AM PDT by Antoninus (Now accepting apologies from repentant Mittens.)
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To: presidio9

If Dan Brown had the guts to do the same kind of film about Islam, there would be a price on his head...


18 posted on 04/08/2009 8:19:58 AM PDT by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: mnehring
It’s fiction..

And not very good fiction at that. The first book was more readable.

19 posted on 04/08/2009 8:20:41 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: presidio9

The church should not respond at all. This always happens with those stupid Madonna (the singer) controversies. She does something “outrageous” and the Catholic Church feels they have to condemn it publicly. That just brings more attention to these idiots because the media goes bezerk with it.
The church has bigger fish to fry.


20 posted on 04/08/2009 8:21:21 AM PDT by floridavoter2
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