The Vatican vs The Da Vinci Code

Earlier this week, speaking for the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone exhorted Catholics around the globe not to buy nor read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. This archbishop, one of the Pope's possible successors, is also one of the guardians of the purity of the Catholic Doctrine. Whatever that means. . .

I'm a bit surprised by the tardiness of this intervention, coming more than 2 years following the novel's original release. By breaking the silence now, the Vatican demonstrated once again how they are dramatically slow to act. And to claim that they have done so now because they have become aware that the book circulates among students and young people around the world. Heck, with 20 millions copies sold, I would think that people of all ages are reading it.

More shocking is the fact that they have added a novel to the index!!! A novel, for God's sake!!! No pun intended. . .;-) There is a line between fact and fiction. The Da Vinci Code contains no satanic verses. It just an extremely good page-turning book, which contains a number of theories that are decades and centuries old. Dan Brown did not invent anything. He has brilliantly utilized existing theories and put them within the context of a darn good story. Which is why the book is so popular the world over.

Thought-provoking, yes. Fascinating and absorbing, definitely. Richly detailed and well-written, no doubt. A work that should be added to the infamous index??? No way. . . Of course, I am acutely aware that should the theories contained within The Da Vinci Code ever be proven, it would shake the Catholic Church and the Curia to the core of their foundations. But Dan Brown's book is a work of fiction. Nothin more, nothing less. . .

For several decades, high and low church officials have been wondering why such a large number of faithful have turned their backs on Catholicism. Could this be a case of voluntary blindness, I wonder?