Catholic forum calls for action against Angels & Demons film

A Catholic forum in Mumbai has conjoined with the Vatican to authorise a boycott of Ron Howard's upcoming movie Angels & Demons, a prequel to his 2006 controversial hit The Da Vinci Code.

The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), the Mumbai-based activists community organisation, in a statement to the Indian Catholic, said anti-Church depictions in the film are sufficient reason for Christians to call for action against the film, like the earlier Da Vinci Code.

"Angels & Demons has been roundly criticised by Vatican, which has also refused permission to the makers to shoot the film on its premises, leading them to recreate important parts of Vatican city in the studios & go ahead," Joseph Dias, general secretary of CSF, said.

A memorandum calling for ban on the picture starring Tom Hanks and is due for release this summer has been sent to India's Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, besides the Censor Board at Mumbai, according to Dias.

"Dan Brown, the author of Da Vinci Code seems to have excelled in the art of Catholicism-bashing and he takes his anti-Catholic agenda further with the novel - Angels & Demons. Co-producer, Brian Grazer wants 'Angels & Demons' to be 'less reverential' than 'The Da Vinci Code', meaning more liberally anti-Catholic – which it is, if one goes by the book," Dias said.

"One would have no objection to the movie-makers, had they left real-life historical figures and the Catholic Church out of their web of cultic charm. However, this is not so and the film deals with historical persons and events, lying about them and demonizing the Catholic Church all through," read the statement.

Dias is of an opinion that "the lies in the movie makes it difficult for one to separate fact from fiction" and is easy to mislead people on the history of the Catholic Church.

The movie is set in Rome and involves a plot by "the Illuminati," a shadowy Catholic group that wants to blow up the Vatican and install one of its own as pope. Vatican officials have refused the crew permission to shoot in the religious site.