According to Publisher’s Lunch newsletter:
Vatican Joins in Decoding Da Vinci
The DA VINCI CODE is just a work of fiction, but the Vatican is taking its worldwide popularity seriously enough that it has appointed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Archbishop of Genoa and one of potential candidates to be the next Pope, to counter what the church calls the book’s “shameful and unfounded errors.”The Cardinal told an Italian newspaper “There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true. [Dan Brown] even perverts the story of the holy grail, which most certainly does not refer to the descendants of Mary Magadalene. It astonishes and worries me that so many people believe these lies.” He will convene the first in a series of public debates in Genoa tomorrow.
Doubleday replies in a statement: “The ideas put forth in THE DA VINCI CODE have been circulating for centuries; this novel explores them in an accessible work of fiction. 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.”
Great. This will guarantee Dan Brown’s book will be on the best-sellers’ lists for another year.