My mom grew up in a time when the Church still instructed people not to read Sartre and Camus—at least in Quebec. So when a Cardinal starts trying to give reading instructions to people, it makes me want to read whatever he’s telling people to avoid. The Da Vinci Code, though? I mean… it’s fiction! Pop fiction! Why doesn’t the church go back to trying to keep people from great philosophical works of literature? You know things are bad when they’re stooping to worrying about the popular response to fictional depictions of the Church, rather than, say, the forceful discussion of ideas that jeopardize Church teaching. Ah, how far we’ve come as a civilization!
Whatever. They’ve been trying—and failing—to control what people read for ages now. I doubt this will do anything other than create curiosity in a few more people who want to see what the hubbub is about. Mr. Brown should thank that Cardinal for the sales boost.