Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou in The Da Vinci Code. The Vatican said Dan Brown's work wounded religious feelings

by Richard Owen in Rome

The Vatican has banned the makers of a prequel to The Da Vinci Code from filming in its grounds or any church in Rome, describing the work as "an offence against God".

Angels and Demons, the latest Dan Brown thriller to be turned into a film, includes key episodes that take place in the Vatican and Rome's churches. Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, the head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that Brown had "turned the gospels upside down to poison the faith".

"It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into films in the name of business," he said, adding that Brown's work "wounds common religious feelings".

Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for the Diocese of Rome, said: "Normally we read the script but this time it was not necessary. The name Dan Brown was enough."

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