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Religion

Cardinal tackling 'Da Vinci'

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican was late to wade into the furor triggered by The Da Vinci Code, but now, a top cardinal is fervently crusading against it.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a former Vatican official considered by some as possible pope material, is pushing a boycott of Dan Brown's runaway bestseller. The book, he insists, espouses heresy and deceives the world's 1-billion Roman Catholics and others by distorting the origins of Christianity.

"There are certainly novels that offend millions of believers in their deepest faith, in their most lively hopes. I believe this is not acceptable," Bertone said in an interview with Associated Press Television News.

Bertone, who worked in the Vatican's powerful office on doctrinal orthodoxy before becoming Genoa archbishop, caused a stir this week by denouncing the book as proof of "anti-Catholic" prejudice and urging people not to buy it.

Allegations in the novel that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and has descendants have outraged many Christians and have been dismissed by historians and theologians.

"The truth is that it spreads false ideas on the origins of Christianity to which we must answer with precise information and with a critical conscience," Bertone said, clearly speaking for the Vatican. "We want to say the truth about this book. The truth will set them free. This is the word of the Lord."

The Da Vinci Code - a fast-moving tale of code-breaking, art history, secret societies, religion and murder - was published two years ago and is available in 44 languages. Publisher Doubleday said there are 29-million copies in print but does not have global sales figures.

Doubleday defended it as a work of fiction whose ideas "have been circulating for centuries."

"Doubleday certainly respects Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican and their desire to clarify any factual errors they feel may have been made in The Da Vinci Code," it said.

In a statement on his Web site, Brown dismissed the furor, describing his novel as "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate."

But Bertone, who hosted a seminar in Genoa this week to rebut the novel, insists it "should not present itself as a historically documented book."

"We arrived late (to the debate), but the church no longer has the Index of Forbidden Books," a list of works Catholics once were forbidden to read, Bertone said. Pope Paul IV began the practice in 1559, but it was abolished in 1966.

The Vatican "trusts that Christians have a mature conscience," the Italian news agency Apcom quoted Bertone as saying. "But such a messy book can do damage."

[Last modified March 18, 2005, 00:44:06]