The Vatican trying to obstruct filming of Angels & Demons? Never.

It’s no secret that Dan Brown isn’t exactly the Catholic church’s favorite author. So it doesn’t seem a huge surprise that they would be…less than cooperative during the filming of Angels & Demons, the sequel to Brown’s controversial The DaVinci Code.

Howard, who had faced similar opposition during filming of The DaVinci Code, claimed he didn’t bother seeking cooperation from the Vatican itself, and that the official word from Roman authorities was that the Vatican had no influence over permits and other such details of the film. However Howard is reported in saying that the Vatican had unofficially “exerted some influence” through back channels regarding imagery of the Sistine Chapel and other sacred holy buildings.

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, refused to comment on Howard’s allegations about church interference, saying his charges were purely designed to drum up publicity for the film.

In this lowly blogger’s opinion, the truth is sure be be a bit of both. The Catholic church as a whole seems to be laying much lower publicly in regards to this film than they were for The DaVinci Code, although the film is said to contain the same, and additional, anti-catholic themes that angered church leaders in the first place. Are they now abiding by the time-honored tradition of, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?”