Vatican Says 'Da Vinci Code' is a pack of lies

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-davinci18mar18.story

20 Million Copies Later, Vatican Says Don't Read 'Da Vinci Code'
The bestseller is a pack of lies that maligns Jesus and harms Catholicism, a cardinal announces.
By Tracy Wilkinson Times Staff Writer March 18, 2005

ROME — OK, so maybe author Dan Brown takes a few liberties.
<snip>

The condemnation might have been prompted by the fact that the book's plots and assertions are about to become even more widely disseminated in a movie starring Tom Hanks. Or it could be the growing popularity of "Da Vinci Code"-based tours to Rome and Paris in which tourists, with book in hand, try to follow its clues.

Some priests have said they are alarmed that people really believe some of the book's wilder conspiracy theories.
<snip>

Bertone was joined at the Genoa conference by Massimo Introvigne, director of the Center for Studies on New Religions, based in Turin, Italy. He said the danger within Brown's book was that he stated early on that his descriptions of secret rituals and mysterious documents were factual.

The book's popularity, Introvigne said, stems from its combination of "two types of social 'tastes' which appear to be quite widespread: on the one hand, the notion of 'conspiracies' and secret societies that dominate the world; and on the other hand, an increasingly unashamed and virulent anti-Catholicism."

Bertone, Introvigne and others also took exception to Brown's use of Opus Dei, a controversial lay order that is well-connected in the Vatican, as the villainous foil.

In the book, an Opus Dei "monk" is a killer; critics point out that Opus Dei does not have monks and has risen in power and respectability, with the pope elevating its Spanish founder to sainthood in near-record time two years ago.
<snip>

[hedgehog]

1. The book is poorly written and full of obvious untruths and

exaggeration, but I was hoping that it might raise questions about Opus Dei. Too many Catholics are totally unaware of this group and the havoc it has wreaked in some places.It's too bad that so many people have devoured this book when they haven't taken time to learn anything about their religion since Confirmation

[DemBones DemBones]

2. What havoc has Opus Dei caused? I have read a lot about it,

mostly against it, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

[meow2u3]

6. I can refer you to a web page for an example of Opus Dei's real aim

http://www.odan.org/tw_miki.htm

What is Opus Dei? The Alternative Version
By M.Miki, former male numerary, Brazil, São Paulo


(snip)
The Problem

At first, we will introduce the problem about Opus Dei by asking some questions.
How could an institution have so many different opinions about it? Some people love it. Some people hate it. Is it a matter of personal preference? Or it is like supporting a baseball team or something else? Is it only a matter of faith? Is it like saying “Believe it or not”?

These different positions about Opus Dei can be defended by two types of groups. The people who support Opus Dei say the founder of Opus Dei, Escriva, gave Catholics the option of sanctity different from the way of monks, nuns, priests etc. Escriva’s message was that the ordinary person, who has a job or takes care of the home, can become a saint. Catholics didn’t have this option of life before the foundation of Opus Dei. With this revolutionary message, Catholics can offer their work to God. A professional and job well done is an offering to God. With the message of Escriva, people can approach God and do activities like participate in the community, go to the mass, pray in a church etc. These are good things that we can’t deny.

On the other side, there are people who were manipulated by this institution for years and many were expelled for some simple excuse. Others suffered from depression and were asked to leave this organization. Most of the people that we are talking about were numeraries. These facts can´t be denied either. The defenders of Opus Dei could say that it is normal -- that there are human errors in a Divine Institution like Opus Dei. But now we know that these types of error are very common (there are lots of testimonies around the world) and it is no longer possible to accept this kind of apology. Other people say that Opus Dei uses some questionable practices like alienation from their families, control of information and the environment etc.

(snip)

What is Opus Dei?

We know that many people will not accept the proposed theory. Some members will say that this is an anti-Catholic speech. Others will say that the former members are frustrated people with a lot of anger and sadness. Other people will say that we are against God. Normally the critics of the former members are not creative and they always say the same things. The theory/the model is a simple way to explain this complex institution. It is so simple and so obvious. We will present this theory only by a symbol. And the symbol is presented below:

(snip)

The symbol of the snake means that the main objective of the Work is not God. The main objective of the Work is itself. It is like other cults. The instruments used by the Work are God and the Catholic Church. emphasis is mine

(more)

[DemBones DemBones]

9. I've read everything at that site before but

is there any truth to it? If so, is just a little of it true? A lot of it? All of it?

And if the stories there are true, do they really apply to Opus Dei worldwide? I wouldn't doubt that a local chapter of Opus Dei, or any other organization, could be "bad" (however you wish to define "bad") but that tells us nothing about the entire international organization.

I want to be cautious about condemning Opus Dei because there are also web sites and organizations that make radical charges against the entire Catholic Church, asserting that we are all brainwashed, or all devlil-worshippers, etc.

[Princess Turandot]

3. I don't know why they bothered..

anyone who takes their historical information from an incredibly badly written novel isn't going to react to anything the Vatican says. The ending is beyond preposterous, altho you could see it coming 100 pages ahead. I think the sales benefited from the continuing taint on the church from the sex scandals. They're just sending him more business by talking about it now. After all, altho I do believe Mr. Rushdie was scared to death when the Iranian mullahs laid a 'fatwa' on him, they also made him richer than he would have otherwise been.

[Reverend_Smitty]

4. Yeah the church really needs to pick its battles...

and going off the handle about a poorly written FICTION novel isn't one they should be worrying about. Granted it is not as silly as singling out "homosexual" cartoon characters, but it's up there.

[DemBones DemBones]

5. It was a fictional play written in the fifties that spread the lie

that Pius XII collaborated with the Nazis. Most people now believe it, because it spawned "investigative" books and popular trash.

Fiction can be stronger than truth, alas.

[elshiva]

7. That play was called "The Deputy."

Again fiction with a veneer of the truth, i.e. using historical personages but not telling the whole truth. "Poetic license" is all.
The Da Vinci Code was not bad really. Actually, I liked it because it helps people get interested in religion. It was not blasphemous, it just stated some old speculations about Jesus' life.

[demosincebirth]

8. Dan Brown's web site,

he specifically says "its fiction." So whats the big deal? I read the book and its an average read. I don't know what the big hoopla is all about. Maybe non-catholics thinking its true.

[regnaD kciN]

11. Actually, in an interview on the Today show...

...Brown said that the allegations in the book are all "absolutely true."

He also has a preface in his book that states that the existence of the Priory of Sion as described in his book is "FACT." Not quite, Dan.

The "big hoopla" is that this book has been one of the biggest-selling in history. Even if we may realize it's all fiction, it's not hard to figure that people aren't buying it in record numbers merely because it's an average murder mystery.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Next up: Vatican says sun rises in east and sets in west.

;-)

[DemBones DemBones]

12. A pronouncement with which many will argue,

just because the Vatican said it! ;-)