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Interview With Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli ROME, JUNE 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- New methods are needed to catechize believers in the truths of the Eucharist, says Monsignor Raffaello Martinelli. The monsignor, an official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and member of the editorial commission of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is author of "L'Eucaristia, dono incomparabile di Dio agli uomini" (The Eucharist, Incomparable Gift of God to People), published by Ediciones San Clemente. In this interview with ZENIT, Monsignor Martinelli explains how he has worked to meet an increasing need for catechesis. Q: What...

A FRIEND was relating how after her daughter had read the Da Vinci Code, she had wanted to read the Bible. Which is not in itself a bad thing except that she was concerned that an impressionable young mind would not be able to differentiate fact from fiction. Also it seemed that perhaps what was needed is a Da Vinci Code-type book for Muslims to spark off the same level of interest in young people in their own religion. Except that if anyone tried to write a similar thriller based around Islam, they’d be hounded and pilloried and threatened with...

Behind the success of The Da Vinci Code is: * A simple story designed to make stupid people feel smart. * Karl Rove and an insidious attempt to recruit members for Opus Dei.

Announcing: Our Lady of Victory Rally of ReparationThe campaign against The Da Vinci Code is not over.To conclude this epic campaign against The Da Vinci Code, Catholics nationwide will join together in a huge, massive, and final act of reparation in front of Sony’s offices in Manhattan, NY, and Culver City, CA. Wow! Rallies on each coast will take place simultaneously. Sony is responsible for producing and distributing the blasphemous movie.  We are now rushing invitations to 120,000 Catholics. As a core member and organizer of this historic protest, it is important that you attend Our Lady of Victory Rally if...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan has banned "The Da Vinci Code" following calls from both minority Christians and majority Muslims, an official said on Sunday. The adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel, the story of a Vatican cover-up involving Christ and his supposed offspring, has made hundreds of millions of dollars around the world since it opened last month. But the screening of the film in Pakistan, or possession of it on video cassettes or discs, was prohibited and unlawful, said Jalil Abbas, secretary of the Ministry of Culture. "The film is sacrilegious to all religions, that's why we did this,"...

Supported by real-life romantic splits and hookups, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn's "The Break-Up" pulled an upset over the mutant world of the "X-Men." "The Break-Up" debuted more strongly than expected with $38.1 million to take over as the No. 1 weekend movie from "X-Men: The Last Stand," which slipped to second place with $34.35 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Aniston's split from Brad Pitt last year and her reported romance that began with Vaughn while filming "The Break-Up" helped keep the movie in the public eye. "They're always in the press," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for...

New Delhi: In less than a week after the delayed release of "The Da Vinci Code" in India, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Pondicherry Thursday joined Goa, Nagaland, Punjab and Tamil Nadu in banning the controversial film. The states of Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh and Union Territory of Pondicherry announced the ban on the film Thursday, while Tamil Nadu decided to ban it Wednesday. Punjab and Nagaland had decided to do so May 25 and May 24, respectively. The Goa government was the first to ban the film after passing a resolution May 16. The film, produced by Columbia Pictures, is...

Polls conducted in France, Britain, Canada, and the US. General public admits Da Vinci Code premise; Catholics less so.Folks, you've heard the expression: "it's only a movie", or "it's just a novel, a work of fiction, get over it!" to those of us who object to Dan Brown's work, The Da Vinci Code and its movie version. Yeah, "fiction" my foot. The work has had an impact upon the general public, which has been led to believe that the plot of these "works of fiction" are "the Truth" with capital letter "T." In France:Out of every 10 people, without distinctions...

IN A paddy-lined valley in the far north of Japan is a municipal signpost inscribed: “Tomb of Christ: next left.” Follow the winding path up into the forest and there, sure enough, is a simple mound with a large wooden cross labelled as the grave of Jesus. Nearby is a tomb commemorating Isukiri, Christ’s brother, adorned with a plastic poinsettia Christmas wreath. For two millennia the farming village of Shingo claims to have protected a tradition that Jesus spent most of his life in Japan. The village is the home of Sajiro Sawaguchi, a man in his eighties who claims...

It never occurred to most of us who worried about the impact of The Da Vinci Code that it would turn out to be a really bad movie. We assumed with its Academy Award--winning director and cast that the movie would magnify the novel's anti-Christian message. And yet film critics are panning, even ridiculing, it. Though millions are indeed going to the theaters to watch this twisted tale of how Christianity is a hoax, that the movie is so aesthetically bad makes it less persuasive and may mitigate the harm that it will do. The website Rotten Tomatoes quantifies what...

Standing behind the stormy campaign around the Da Vinci Code are Masons whose aim is to marginalize the Christian Church Deacon Andrey Kurayev, professor at Moscow Theological Academy and well-known Orthodox theologian, sought to dispel some of the myths underlying and referred to in the Da Vinci Code novel, in an interview to Interfax-Religion. - The stormy campaign around the Da Vinci Code, unexpected but also intriguing for many, has unwittingly put in one’s head the thought about its possible instigators. Simply speaking, qui prodest – who benefits from it? - The Da Vinci Code is a typical conspiracy work...

Russia: Catholic, Orthodox Churches Unite Against European Secularism By Brian Whitmore PRAGUE, May 29, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- As the Moscow Patriarchate's external relations head, Metropolitan Kiril of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, met Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month, a demonstration was taking place in Moscow that would have pleased many in the Vatican. Members of the Union of Orthodox Citizens were picketing the Moscow premiere of the film "The Da Vinci Code," based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel. Central to Brown's novel is the suggestion that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child together, with the bloodline continuing to the present...

The news media play an important role in popular culture by providing publicity for the movie studios as films are readied for release. But some movies are more favored by the news media than others, some for their expected status as expensive but appealing blockbusters, and some for their social commentary (for example, the film Brokeback Mountain). The DaVinci Code was both: an expected blockbuster movie based on one of the most publicized works of fiction in the new century, drawing enormous national media interest with its vision of a vast, murderous church conspiracy. It should not be surprising that...

The danger that Dan Brown's prose style might be contagious discouraged me from reading The Da Vinci Code, and I decline to see the film. In 1982, I read the same asinine story in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail presented as fact, and do not gladly dive twice into the same sewer. Why this rubbish became the world's best-selling work of fiction, though, paradoxically confirms the strength of America's Christian faith. Why should an American novel depicting Christianity as a hoax command such a readership while Christian faith is resurgent? Americans are migrating en masse to evangelical denominations...

The media buildup of The Da Vinci Code is now history. (Or, at least, should be; though, it was curious a week out—at the start of the Memorial Day weekend when everyone was relaxing at the beach, or the equivalent—to see all the Code coverage, including Dateline’s Dan Brown interview and Anderson Cooper’s 360º “decoding” feature.) Now, it’s time to weigh the hype against the raw numbers. (Which, no doubt, the media conglomerates are watching closely, as well, and may explain NBC’s and CNN’s renewed attention to yesterday’s news.) According to IMDb Box Office figures, the “all time” top 10...

The Ten Commandments are radical in the sense that they are at odds with the world in which we live. The ACLU and other special interest groups have gone to court in an effort to have the Commandments sliced from public places. Do we now consider God’s laws as antiquated, unimportant and just too restricting? Are Christians weak today with so little faith that they fall victim to confusing, conjured and fictitious Hollywood movies like The Da Vinci Code? Consider the loose ideology of any liberal person who demonstrates their rejection of God’s word by fighting to eliminate the Ten...

THE controversial religious organisation lambasted in the blockbuster movie and book The Da Vinci Code has revealed that membership inquiries have soared in the past year. The film and book portray Opus Dei as a murderous and secretive cult within the Roman Catholic church. Despite this negative view, membership applications have increased tenfold. The film, based on the book by Dan Brown and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, centres on the controversial theory that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and that the two had a child. Opus Dei is portrayed as a ruthless suppressor of the truth, using any...

New revelationsRecently discovered Gospel of Skip and Muffy has all the makings of yet another blockbuster By Bishop Fred Henry Calgary Sun May 29, 2006 In early April, there was the climatologist who opined that back in the old days, Galilee experienced cold snaps, so maybe Jesus didn't walk on water, but was standing on ice. This, it was suggested, will force Christians to reconsider the foundations of their faith. However, a larger story soon emerged concerning the discovery of the second-century "Gospel of Judas", highly touted by the National Geographic Society and the New York Times. The opening...

VANCOUVER, May 29, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Canadian Movie Theater chain Cineplex Odeon abruptly cancelled a planned in-theater advertising campaign by Campus Crusade for Christ May 17. Valued at more than $60,000, the ads were part of the organization's program encouraging the public to view The Da Vinci Code movie and explore religious issues raised by the film."We're very disappointed the movie chain cancelled our ads without any discussion or verification regarding our plans," said Campus Crusade Marketing Director Braden Douglas.The Langley, BC-based organization had produced a 10-sec movie screen teaser ad encouraging the public to visit a special...

The way I see it, Dan Brown should be very happy for Fandango, which allowed millions of theater-goers to see "The Da Vinci Code" before reading the reviews. Normally, movies don't crash, losing 57% of their audience in the second weekend. Especially not when the 2nd weekend is a holiday weekend and the first weekend was not. But normally people who see movies this stupid have already invested in their Jar-Jar Binks Happy Meal Action Figure. Go figure that the Happy Meal featuring a dead, naked museum curator with a pentagram scratched in his back didn't sell to well. (OK,...