Madam, - I find it quite sad that Cardinal Bertone of Genoa should seek to blame the popularity of the Da Vinci Code on a "subversive" distribution strategy. While the novel has many flaws, people read it because they want to read it and the publishers are responding to the demands of their readership. The demand has been generated mainly by word of mouth and not a mysterious conspiracy, as he implies, to flood the bookshelves with anti-Catholic propaganda.
The fact that so many people are willing to entertain the theories in the novel should indeed be a cause of concern to the Cardinal and the Church as a whole. In this country alone, we have been the victims of Church lies, cover-ups and abuses and the Vatican has always defended itself with scant regard for openness and transparency. It is little wonder that people are willing to believe the worst of an organisation such as this. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN DOOLEY, Church Park Lawn, Harolds Cross, Dublin 6W.