February 24th Comments (13) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, The Da Vinci Code

I was surprised when a friend wrote me to take issue with my statement that the cilice and discipline were less popular now than in the past. He points out that they may well be more popular now than they were, say, 30 or 40 years ago; in other words, it depends on what “past” [...]

February 21st Comments (44) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, On Opus Dei, Recommended Posts, The Church, The Da Vinci Code

After reading the book and seeing the movie trailer, I think it’s safe to say that this – “oh yeah, the guys who use cilices and whip themselves bloody” Рwill be the impression of Opus Dei that most people take away from The Da Vinci Code. When all is said and done, what sticks [...]

February 20th Comments (2) / RSS Post Filed under Mortification, The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown doesn’t seem to be in danger of overestimating his readers. There’s always going to be some reader who forgets essential characters during his in-flight dinner or during that quick dip at the beach, so Brown lends a helping hand: “One mile away, the hulking albino named Silas ….” – Chapter 2. And, in [...]

February 20th Comments (1) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

There’ll be plenty of time to talk about The Da Vinci Code’s misrepresentation of Opus Dei, but for the moment, I have a little confession to make: for me, the treatment of Opus Dei on the “FACT Page” came as a pleasant surprise. It was – mirabile dictu Рmissing the two words I had [...]

February 17th Comments (48) / RSS Post Filed under Cartoons, The Da Vinci Code

An artist friend sent me this cartoon

February 14th Comments (1) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code, What others said

The following text is a transcript of an interview for Associated Press Television News, conducted in Rome in December of 2003. Elizabeth Pilliod is an art historian who was then in residence at the American Academy in Rome. I was also interviewed for the same piece. From different perspectives, we concurred on the distance between [...]

February 14th Comments (9) / RSS Post Filed under Recommended Posts, The Da Vinci Code, What others said

A must-read article by a Hollywood expert: To See or Not to See

February 13th Comments (5) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

[PHOTO GALLERY] The fanciful analysis of Leonardo’s Last Supper served up in The Da Vinci Code leads us necessarily to the bizarre conclusion that Leonardo painted a Last Supper without the apostle John, who figures quite prominently in the Gospel account. If Leonardo da Vinci’s portrayal of St. John the Evangelist in the Last Supper [...]

February 11th Comments (148) / RSS Post Filed under On Opus Dei, The Da Vinci Code, What others said

One curious side-effect of the Da Vinci Code phenomenon is the scholar-novelist Umberto Eco’s recommendation of the official Opus Dei website. Exhausted by continuous questions about the veracity of The Da Vinci Code, Italy’s best-known former-Catholic tells his readers, “Besides, if you want up-to-date information on all the matters in question, go to the site [...]

February 9th Comments (2) / RSS Post Filed under On Opus Dei, The Da Vinci Code

On February 9, ABC¬¥s “Good Morning America” did a segment on Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code movie. They interviewed me and John Allen, among others. Here¬¥s a link to the video segment Good Morning America

February 9th Comments (3) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown’s website now says that the artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in the novel “all exist,” which is certainly closer to the truth than what the last sentence of the FACT page claims: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” (my emphasis) However… before looking at [...]

February 8th Comments (4) / RSS Post Filed under The Da Vinci Code

While The Da Vinci Code seems, at first glance, to be deeply hostile to Catholicism, a closer reading suggests that the picture is not so simple. In fact, some readers have speculated that the novel may be, in essence, an exploration of Catholic themes… perhaps even written by a Catholic. “Anonymous for now” wrote (Jan. [...]

February 7th Comments (14) / RSS Post Filed under Art, The Da Vinci Code

You won’t believe this. A friend of mine from Harvard, Bob Glandon, who teaches English at a small college in New Hampshire, happens to live in Conway, NH, near the home of Dan Brown’s parents. He just wrote to tell me some remarkable news. Yesterday, he was taking his garbage to the town dump and, [...]

February 7th Comments (2) / RSS Post Filed under On Opus Dei, The Da Vinci Code

On February 7th, the NYTimes ran an article that includes a photo of the real “Silas” in Opus Dei, who turns out to be not an albino monk, but rather a married Nigerian supernumerary member. The article can be read here: Opus Dei and the Da Vinci Code