THE DA VINCI CODE - ANGELS AND DEMONS PREMIERES NEAR VATICAN

ANGELS AND DEMONS PREMIERES NEAR VATICAN

In what some saw as a direct challenge to the Vatican, Sony's Angels and Demons , the prequel to The Da Vinci code, had its world premiere Monday night in Rome in a theater located within walking distance to St. Peter's. And while the movie had earlier generated widespread condemnation by leading church figures in the Holy City as well as censure by the Catholic League, the largest organization of lay Catholics in the U.S., the church was conspicuously silent about its premiere, apparently in the belief that condemning the film would only bring it further publicity. Daily Variety quoted Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's press secretary as saying, "I'll comment only if the film production buys 1,000, 10-year subscriptions to our official newspaper." And Father John Wauck, who teaches history and literature at Holy Cross University in Rome, told CNN. "I think the church's attitude has been, from the beginning, 'hands off' ... especially, I think, after what happened with The Da Vinci Code [when the controversy over the movie served to publicize it]. ... In the Da Vinci Code , there were serious issues, such as who Jesus Christ was or the nature of church in the course of history, but none of them is taken in Angels and Demons . It's simply a thriller."

05/05/2009