Vatican official suggests Catholics boycott 'The Da Vinci Code' film

Published: 2006-05-01

ROME (CNS) -- Catholics should consider boycotting the film "The Da Vinci Code" as one way to let the world know the story offends and defames the church, said Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. If the kind of "slander, offenses and errors" contained in Dan Brown's best-selling book and the film based on it had been written about "the Quran or the Shoah (the Holocaust), they rightly would have provoked a worldwide uprising," the archbishop told Catholic communications directors. The archbishop spoke April 28 at a Rome conference for church communications personnel sponsored by the Opus Dei-run University of the Holy Cross. In responding to questions at the end of his talk, Archbishop Amato declined to issue a clear call for all Catholics to boycott the film. However, during his speech, he did tell the communications directors, "I hope you all boycott that film."

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