"Cardinal's plea: Don't read 'Da Vinci Code"
Theologian calls novel insulting 'sack full of lies'
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 12:33 p.m. ET March 16, 2005

VATICAN CITY - The cardinal leading the Vatican's charge against The Da Vinci Code urged Catholics on Wednesday to shun it like rotten food and branded the bestseller "a sack full of lies" insulting the Christian faith.

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In an interview with Reuters inside the Vatican, Cardinal Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone also said Catholic bookstores should take the thriller off their shelves and accused U.S. author Dan Brown of "deplorable" behavior.

The novel is an international murder mystery centered on attempts to uncover a secret about the life of Christ that a clandestine society has tried to protect for centuries.

"Don't buy this. Don't read this because this is rotten food," said Bertone, the highest ranking Catholic churchman to speak out against the blockbuster.

"A lot of novels do good but this book is rotten food ... it does harm, not good.", Beronte said in the 30-minute interview in the offices of the Vatican's doctrinal department.

The rest of the story can be found here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7205300/?GT1=6305