Church 'to cash in' on Da Vinci
2006-05-14 14:25
Paris - Despite the outcry over The Da Vinci Code, many Catholics see the frenzy surrounding the upcoming film of the bestselling novel as a chance to explain their faith and get people back into the pews.
Last month an aide of Pope Benedict XVI, Angelo Amato, urged the public to boycott the movie of the book by US novelist Dan Brown, describing it as perversely anti-Christian.
"If such calumnies, insults and errors had involved the Koran or the Shoah they would have rightly provoked a worldwide outcry," the prelate said. "But when they involve the Church and Christians, they remain unscathed."
The head of the Jordanian Council of Churches Archbishop Hanna Nour, also called for the film to banned saying it "harms Christian and Muslim religious symbols by calling into question what is written in the Gospels and the Koran on the personality of Christ."
And a Catholic group in India, the Catholic Secular Forum, urged Christians to starve themselves to death to protest Wednesday's release of the film, adding it hoped thousands of people would attend a protest in Mumbai on the day to burn effigies of Dan Brown.
Christians have most notably been angered by the book's central premise that the Church, and the Catholic organisation the Opus Dei, have conspired for two millennium to cover up the fact that Jesus Christ married Mary Magdalene and fathered children with her.
Last week the US branch of the Opus Dei, depicted as a secret cult of ruthless, self-mutilating monks, slammed the portrayal and the film's other disputed religious contentions.
"We want to point out that The Da Vinci Codes depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate," the group said in a statement.
"Opus Dei is a Catholic institution and adheres to Catholic doctrine, which clearly condemns immoral behavior, including murder, lying, stealing, and generally injuring people."
But many senior Church leaders remain convinced that audiences will see the both the book and the blockbuster movie for what it is - a work of fiction.
"We have to treat people as adults," said Monseignor Jean-Michel Di Falco, the bishop of Gap and communications president for the Bishops Conference of France.
He will be present at the world premiere of the movie, starring Tom Hanks and French actress Audrey Tautou, when it opens the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.
"What is important, is to provide analysis and reflection for the people who will be going to see the film," he told AFP.
Others agree with him.
"The anti-Christian tidal wave which this film of Dan Brown's book is likely to trigger shouldn't frighten anyone," Monseignor Henri Brincard, bishop of Puy-en-Velay, told the conservative Catholic magazine la Nef. He believes the Gospel should be the Church's first response to the wave of interest.
Like other senior clergy, Brincard accuses The Da Vinci Code of wanting to "sap grassroots faith" and of "deceiving the reader, who is ill-informed or easily seduced by the fictionalised account, into making apparently solid conclusions."
Around the world, the clergy is organising itself to meet the challenge to be presented by the film, which also goes on release across France on Wednesday, before opening worldwide on Friday.
In the southern French resort of Nice, the diocesan delegate in charge of culture Father Vincent-Paul Toccoli is organising a screening of the movie followed by a debate.
"I did the same thing for Mel Gibson's 'Passion of Christ'," he said, adding that he had always liked Tom Hanks.
In Paris, which is expecting a further tourist boom in the wake of the film, the Anglican church of Saint Michael has organised several events from Thursday to Sunday to see the film and discuss it.
In France the Opus Dei has updated its Internet site and organised open days for the press in Strasbourg, Toulouse, Marseilles and Grenoble.
And in Australia, which the pope is expected to visit in 2008, the Anglican Church is organising a publicity campaign in some 250 cinemas to accompany the release of the film.
The clip shows an incredulous Jesus listening to the book's suggestion that the Church had helped cover up the real truth about his bloodline.
"We are not afraid of the film. We are not seeking to discourage people from seeing it," said Bishop Robert Forsyth, chairman of Anglican Media Sydney.
"But we are well aware of the power popular films have in filling the information void about Jesus."
- SAPA