“The cardinal leading the Vatican‘s charge against The Da Vinci Code urged Catholics on Wednesday to shun it like rotten food and branded the bestseller ‘a sackfull of lies’ insulting the Christian faith,” according to a Reuters wire story. In an interview with Reuters’ Philip Pullella, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone called the book “the latest in a series of devastating attacks against Christianity” and added that similar writings about other religions would not have been accepted. “This book is a sack full of lies against the Church, against the real history of Christianity and against Christ himself,” he tells Pullella, adding, “It’s impossible to pull the book off shelves of general bookstores . . . but certainly not selling it in Catholic bookstores would be a good first step.” Author Dan Brown, meanwhile, responded on his website to the “small but vocal group of individuals” who have “proclaimed the story dangerous, heretical, and anti-Christian.” He writes: “While I regret having offended those individuals, I should mention that priests, nuns, and clergy contact me all the time to thank me for writing the novel. Many church officials are celebrating The Da Vinci Code because it has sparked renewed interest in important topics of faith and Christian history.”