It’s seen as an opportunity for evangelization to educate the British public in the real history of Christianity and of the Church, and to explain that the “Da Vinci Code” is a work of fantasy that travesties reality in many points. In such terms the Catholic Church of England and Wales is intervening on the film “The Da Vinci Code”, which is due to open in British cinemas on 19 May. A group of theologians and academics chaired by Austen Ivereigh, spokesman of the Catholic Primate of England and Wales, Cardinal Murphy O’Connor, will be at the disposal of the press and British citizens to clarify all the points in which the film and the book travesty the historical truth. The Catholic Church has seconded the request of Opus Dei to the Sony Corporation that the film be accompanied by a rider explaining that it’s a work of fiction. But so far Sony has ignored the request. Anglicans too have got organized in preparation for the launch of the film: a special section of the Church of England website is dedicated to the most frequently asked questions about Dan Brown’s book and the film made from it and contains suggestions for debates on the film.
