'code' Cracked By Clergy

The Italian government said Tuesday that it will remove a massive advertisement for the upcoming film "The Da Vinci Code" from the scaffolding of Rome's St. Pantaleo church after complaints from clergy.

The advertisement, the size of a movie screen, blanketed the scaffolding of the state-sponsored renovation project — a common means of advertising in Italy.

Clergy opposed the advertisement because of the story line of the film, based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel. The story speculates that the church has for centuries concealed the fact that Jesus married former prostitute Mary Magdalene and that the couple have descendants who live to this day.

Last year, Pope John Paul II appointed influential Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Archbishop of Genoa, to head a committee with the task of refurbishing the story — a project that continues.

"This outrageous story creates the risk that people will become familiar with what are fables and believe they are facts," Bertone said.

The person who answered the phone at St. Pantaleo church would say only that church officials were "very relieved" that the ad would be taken down. He declined to be identified.

The ad features a massive reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," the film's title and its Web site. It has stood since late last month, the local media reported, sparking complaints from clergy in that part of Rome's historical center.

The advertising will be removed by week's end, reports said, and will be replaced by something "more appropriate."

The church is owned by Italy's Ministry of the Interior, which awarded the refurbishment contract to a local company, which sold the advertising rights to another company.

Scaffold advertising like the one for the film are assigned randomly among clients who pay for them, and it was a coincidence that the ad for "Code" was placed on the scaffolding outside a prominent church, reports said.

The world premiere of "Code," directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, is May 19 at the Festival de Cannes.