Your Sunday Sermon - The Bloodline

As the pope slips away from his adoring flock and the seconds and minutes tick away until his frail 83 year old body counts down its last moments, it has made me wonder about who his successor may turn out to be and I thought of the recent article I saw about Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Archbishop of Genoa, chosen by the vatican to take up the fight against the new popular theory surrounding Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the other salacious theories set in the run away bestselling (18 million so far) novel "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown and I wonder to myself, does the world need yet another bigoted, queer hating, close minded papal figure?

"What book is this, Reverend?"

In the book, the writer outlines the main characters, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, tracking the dying secret of the curator of The Louvre, in Paris whilst in a battle of wits with Opus Dei, who want to suppress that the Holy Grail is not a chalice but the body of Mary Magdalene (a prostitute), who married Christ and had his child; that Jesus had intended her to follow him as leader of the Church; that she was pregnant at the time of the Crucifixion, after which she fled to Gaul; that she gave birth to a daughter, Sarah, and that Jesus’s bloodline became the Merovingian dynasty.

Now these theories were all prevolent in past works as "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" and "Holy Blood and Holy Grail" in the 70s, but the theories were then easier to confound and disgrace by the church as the general consensus of people in the 70s was a lot more faithful to God but now when we face lower churching numbers and people begin to open their eyes, hearts and minds and thinking logically, the tide turns. These books did have an affect on what became more logical understanding, fuelling atheism around the world and generally made people think again but not since then, has a work been deemed so inflammatory and blasphemous, that a cardinal is appointed to research and defend the honour of the Catholic faith. Until now and like some crusader, some phoenix from the ashes, he rises!!

What the Cardinal must ask himself, surely is this: Think not how you can disprove a peice of work and likening it to "19th Century intemperate anti-clerical pamphlets" which also set out to disprove the same elements of faith but this,

"Prove to us all that the bible IS an accurate depiction of the life of Christ and that the scriptures were simply not doctored through time by the church leaders who needed to preserve the sacred teachings of what the whole church was founded on and there are no tombs full of lies buried underneath the vatican for all safe keeping..."

This is the issue you must concentrate and not calling a work of FICTION, "shameful and unfounded" and intending to "unmask the lies".

Well, news flash for you Cardinal. Here we go...

We are all not stupid, (well perhaps 49% of Americans are) we know "Da Vinci Code" is fiction. We don't need you and your little red hat to tell us.

I have read the book and its a load of sensational fluff, granted. Escapism tripe. But the theories inside the book are riveting and page turning and are founded on scriptures and teachings just of those of the old testament. Yes, I have also read the aforementioned books and so should you, then take yourself down to those vaults only the pope and an appointed agency cleaner may dare venture into and kick back, put up your weary feet and leaf through whats down there with the Reverend and a big bag of cheesey snacks.

Most of the 18 million people that have READ the book (I bet the cardinal hasn't) would agree with me. I know the conspiracy theories, I know of the department of the museum that they go to does not really exist, we're not stupid. But these confounded delusions that are written has taken off and do seem believable, 18 million people have bought the book within a year of publication, that in itself is its own religion and I'm sure it took Jesus Christ longer to get himself such a following, son of God or no son of God.

Well, look out world, it's too late. If you wanted to debunk this theory and stop this new thought, new faith, new belief, religion even, you better think fast as Hollywood now have their grubby little mits on it and Tom Hanks is in it! A modern day prophet in himself!

I will leave you with the kind and interesting views of the Cardinal who stated the following, but I have to admit I cannot tell whether he is talking about "Da Vinci Code" or his own precious bible.

"The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true."

Difficult, huh? Rev.