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Vatican Appoints Official Da Vinci Code Debunker
U.K. Guardian ^ | March 15, 2005 | Michelle Pauli

Posted on 03/15/2005 7:41:12 AM PST by srm913

Vatican appoints official Da Vinci Code debunker

Michelle Pauli Tuesday March 15, 2005

Guardian Unlimited With sales of over 18m copies in 44 languages, topping bestseller charts all over the world and earning its author more than £140m, Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is a global phenomenon. And now it has become the first book ever to have an archbishop dedicated to debunking its contents.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Archbishop of Genoa and a possible successor to the Pope, has been appointed by the Vatican to rebut what the Catholic church calls the "shameful and unfounded errors" contained within The Da Vinci Code. He is organising a series of public debates focusing on the conspiracy theories and what the Vatican sees as the blurring of fact and fiction at the heart of the thriller, the first of which will be held in Genoa tomorrow.

The book follows the investigations of a Harvard code expert who is looking into the murder of the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris. He discovers a series of clues buried in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and, by deciphering riddles and anagrams, uncovers the secrets of the holy grail: that Jesus never claimed to be divine, that he married Mary Magdalene and had a child with her, that his bloodline survived in France and that the grail itself was not a chalice but a woman. It is this, along with the book's characterization of the international Catholic organization Opus Dei as an extremist cult, that has particularly exercised the Vatican.

"The book is everywhere," Cardinal Bertone told Il Giornale newspaper, according to a report in The Times today. "There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true. [Dan Brown] even perverts the story of the holy grail, which most certainly does not refer to the descendants of Mary Magadalene. It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies."

The 70-year-old cardinal, a former football commentator, has acted as deputy to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The appointment of such a high-profile defender of the church to take up battle against a work of fiction is an indication of how upset the Vatican is about the success of the book, which has spawned a small publishing industry of its own and is currently being made into a film, starring Tom Hanks, to be released next year.

According to David Barratt, a writer on religion and expert on The Da Vinci Code, "Members of the Catholic church are particularly upset by what they see as the blasphemous suggestion that Jesus may have had sex - but there is absolutely no reason theologically why Jesus could not have been married and had a family. They are also upset at the way the Catholic church and the Vatican are characterised as having plotted to cover up the 'truth' about Christianity, and they are understandably upset at the characterisation of Opus Dei.

"Many people think there are genuine concerns about Opus Dei but the actions ascribed to them in the novel are completely ridiculous. Apart from anything else, they don't have monks."

As a result of the book's hold over the public's imagination, Opus Dei has produced its own response: a 127-page statement which sets out the "errors" in the book, and states that "many readers are intrigued by the claims about Christian history and theology presented in The Da Vinci Code. We would like to remind them it is a work of fiction and not a reliable source of information."

Barrett is dismissive of the bestseller. "It's basically a hack thriller, a typical airport book," he says. "The Catholic church are overreacting: ultimately, it's only a novel and the controversy will eventually die down. On the other hand, the book raises some serious questions about the origins of Christianity. Even though it makes many glaring historical errors, the fact remains that early Christianity did take many variant forms, including Gnostic Christianity, and there are genuine issues to be examined. But such examinations should be undertaken by competent theologians and historians, not hack thriller writers who are very poor at their research."

Greg Watts, a Catholic author, has similar concerns about Brown's credentials. "Dan Brown's concern is to make money rather than teach theology. He has found a gullible audience and has played on their ignorance," he says. "He gives the readers the impression that they understand Christianity when in fact they've been hoodwinked and manipulated."

However, Watts also feels that the fact that The Da Vinci Code has appealed to such a broad audience presents a challenge to the church: "There is a lesson for the church in the success of The Da Vinci Code and the lesson is that the church needs to use modern media much more effectively to present the Christian message to the new generation."

A spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said that they had no plans for any similar 'debunking' initiatives.

Dan Brown's publishers were unavailable to comment on the appointment of Cardinal Bertone.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: catholicchurch; danbrown; davincicode; endoftheage; houseofcardsfalling
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Dan Brown

We are indeed living in interesting times.
1 posted on 03/15/2005 7:41:12 AM PST by srm913
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To: srm913

Why waste time on a novel of fiction?


2 posted on 03/15/2005 7:42:26 AM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: srm913
The book is FICTION.

Why are they concerned?

3 posted on 03/15/2005 7:43:31 AM PST by evad
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To: bmwcyle

LOL..you beat me by a minute


4 posted on 03/15/2005 7:44:28 AM PST by evad
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To: evad

It's as bogus as Bill Clinton's autobiography. 100% fiction...


5 posted on 03/15/2005 7:45:49 AM PST by Russ
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To: evad

G.K. Chesterton once said that the trouble with people who belive nothing is that they'll believe anything...Scientology, The Celestine Prophecy. etc.


6 posted on 03/15/2005 7:46:01 AM PST by Borges
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To: evad

Aparently even a work of fiction is threatening to them. Why? I have no idea.

If they are so firm in their beliefs they should have faith in their ability to stand up to a fictitious novel.

(It is a damn good book, BTW. All four of his books are excelent)

Bones


7 posted on 03/15/2005 7:46:28 AM PST by Bones75
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To: evad
Mass Stupidity due to half truth. The same thing that happened in Germany, CCCP, etc.

It looks like you are on the edge of being sucked in.

8 posted on 03/15/2005 7:47:42 AM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: srm913
Must have Vatican secret decoder ring

9 posted on 03/15/2005 7:47:49 AM PST by evets (God bless President Bush and VP Cheney)
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To: srm913
Well I am glad they are making the effort to defend Christianity from some heresies at least. This is good news BUT I hear they sell this book in the Vatican Bookstore, to tourist no less. If true, perhaps they can start by removing the book from their shelves and thereby remove the legitimacy such an act implies.
10 posted on 03/15/2005 7:47:52 AM PST by Mark in the Old South (Sister Lucia of Fatima pray for us)
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To: srm913

How about the fact that everyone in Da Vinci's painting is white? How many non-olive skinned people were running around the area at that time.


11 posted on 03/15/2005 7:49:28 AM PST by vmivol00
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To: evad

>>The book is FICTION.<<

You mean PLAGIARISM, don't you?

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=42132005


12 posted on 03/15/2005 7:52:43 AM PST by nina0113
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To: bmwcyle; evad
Perhaps because many non-believers and uninformed believers don't know what in it is real and what is not. There are numerous stories of readers who believe that it is a fictional presentation of fact.

The church has a responsibility to try to inform the public of what is and is not true in this area.

I applaud their reaction, and I'm not even Catholic.
13 posted on 03/15/2005 7:54:16 AM PST by sharktrager (The masses will trade liberty for a more quiet life.)
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To: evad

They're concerned because they are shepherds and this book is leading people astray. Why WOULDN'T they be concerned? I work with a slew of nominal Catholics who now think there's something to the Magalene-and-Jesus thing. It's fiction, sure, but people are approaching it like it's truth - or close enough to be possibly the truth.


14 posted on 03/15/2005 7:57:13 AM PST by Rutles4Ever (Warning: may eat own)
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To: Bones75
If they are so firm in their beliefs they should have faith in their ability to stand up to a fictitious novel.

They are standing up. They've appointed an archbishop to rebut it.

15 posted on 03/15/2005 7:57:55 AM PST by SedVictaCatoni (<><)
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To: Mark in the Old South

Where in the heck did you hear that?


16 posted on 03/15/2005 7:57:58 AM PST by Rutles4Ever (Warning: may eat own)
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To: Bones75

It's not for their benefit, it's for the benefit of our impressionable society that eats everything the media feeds it.


17 posted on 03/15/2005 7:59:30 AM PST by Rutles4Ever (Warning: may eat own)
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To: vmivol00
How about the fact that everyone in Da Vinci's painting is white? How many non-olive skinned people were running around the area at that time.

Granted, the book is fiction. One of my biggest issues with it even as fiction is that it looked upon Da Vinci's Last Supper painting as if Da Vinci himself was a witness to the event. He painted it 1500 years later!

18 posted on 03/15/2005 7:59:58 AM PST by Mannaggia l'America
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To: sharktrager
It will be in the time of return of Jesus that people will believe in this junk. Satan will blind the masses. The Sheeple will follow the lie. The elites follow the novels they read. This is why the elite Euro thinkers fade with history and pollute the culture.
19 posted on 03/15/2005 8:01:18 AM PST by bmwcyle (Washington DC RINO Hunting Guide)
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To: evad
Re: "The book is FICTION. Why are they concerned?"

I will tell you why. It is not folks such as yourself, you know it is fiction and approach it as such. Alas not all have a head on their shoulders. They are mesmerized by the book and the possibilities it provides them in their faith (such as it is). The book is based on the Gospels of Thomas, a fraud that the Church debunked as early as 350 AD (at least). It was written by former pagans who did not want to give up the sensual pleasures their old religion permitted. Christianity has this funny notion about reforming the man to God's will and denying the will of man. Alas there are those who want the name of Christian or Catholic without the reform. It was true in 150 AD it is true today.

I was in an antique store talking with the manager, a cradle Catholic waxing eloquent about this book, she had a gleam in her eye and clearly thought the book was based on real events and facts. Pointing out it was a work of fiction didn't have a dent. There was a time a Catholic would not be allowed to read such a book. If a book tried to speak on religious matters it had to have an imprimatur. Such a quaint notion was largely abandoned with Vatican II. The result is all the old heresies are coming out of the woodwork. Will man ever learn from past mistakes? I doubt it.
20 posted on 03/15/2005 8:01:27 AM PST by Mark in the Old South (Sister Lucia of Fatima pray for us)
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