angels & demons & catholics attack

from telegraph: The storyline for Angels & Demons, which stars Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor, centres on a plot by the Illuminati, a secret society of intellectuals, who are intent on gaining revenge for a brutal massacre of their predecessors by the Church centuries ago. Although the society once existed, there is no historical evidence that its members were butchered by Catholics.

The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Bishop of Nottingham, warned that the film could stir up anti-Catholic sentiment."This is so outlandish, it's total rubbish," said Bishop McMahon, who is one of the Church's most senior bishops. "It's mischievous to stir up this kind of anti-Catholic sentiment. It's a gratuitous knocking of the Church and I can't see any reason for it." ...

The frenetically outlandish plot of Angels & Demons centres on a race against time by Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) to thwart a plot by the Illuminati to blow up the cradle of Catholicism with an anti-matter bomb during the conclave to elect a new pope.

But Mr Donahue is exasperated by the way that he says Brown and Howard blend fact, fiction and conspiracy theory. "I have never dealt with two more disengenous people," he told The Daily Telegraph. "They wouldn't dare treat any other religion like this." ...

Jack Valero, a spokesman for Opus Dei UK, which is portrayed as a secretive, all-powerful sect in the Da Vinci Code, criticised the new film's central plot. "It's bizarre and a total fabrication," he said. "I find it offensive, as will other Catholics, but I'm not going to bother spending too much time thinking about it."

flashback: catholic league claims opie is lying in 'angels & demons'