Catholic bishops also admitted they trust the maturity and faith of Filipino readers and moviegoers so the CBCP would not take steps to censor or block the showing of the movie in local theaters.
Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for CBCP, said bishops view "Da Vinci Code" as "a work of art and not of Science or History so they do not see it as a threat to the teachings of the Church."
"If the faith of the people is strong, it would not be destroyed by one novel. Both the book and movie are presented the way it should be - a fiction - so the people would not be afraid," Quitorio told reporters.
To prove his point, the priest cited for example the supposed "secret society" portrayed in the novel as the "guardian or protector of the secrets of the Church since the first year of its foundation."
"If you studied the history of Church, you would know that from year one to 114 this Church is very pitiful. Christians at that time were hunted down and killed so they don’t have the power to create such group of protectors of secrets because they could not protect themselves in the first place," explained Quitorio.
"Masses at that period were held in catacombs because Roman soldiers would kill anyone caught practicing Christianity. The Church only gained power during the Middle Ages when Constantine, the Emperor of Rome, was converted and he declared Christianity as universal Church," he added.
The CBCP official believes that the objective of both publisher of book and producer of movie is purely commercial or business in nature: "If I were in their position, I would also encourage both critics and supporters to keep on talking about my product so it would sell."
But Quitorio clarified that while the CBCP is not against the showing of the movie here, neither would it promote the film. "If we act on the issue, through censorship, we will only help in the promotion which is not a job for the bishops."
The "Da Vinci Code" is about the adventures of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu in finding a vastly important religious relic hidden for centuries by Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo Da Vinci.
The novel had an entirely different picture of Jesus Christ: He married Mary Magdalene and even had children with her, including the Merovingian kings of France. It was also said in the book that Mary Magdalene, and not the last-supper cup, was the Holy Grail, and that her womb served as the chalice from which the royal blood of Jesus flowed forth in a royal posterity.
According to the book, the Priory of Sion was dedicated to protecting "the true history of Jesus," which the Roman Catholic Church throughout its long history had energetically tried to suppress. This ancient antagonism between Rome and the Priory of Sion, the "Da Vinci Code" asserts, is also symbolically represented in The Last Supper painting.
Meanwhile, the CBCP is set to hold Bible Camp after Holy Week to promote awareness of the Bible among Filipino youth.
This after Pope Benedict XVI affirmed in his World Youth Day message the urgent need for a new generation of apostles as he urged the young people to "build (their lives) on Christ, to accept the Word with joy and put its teachings into practice."
The National Youth Bible Camp, a joint project of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Biblical Apostolate (ECBA) and Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY), is tentatively set on April 24 to 28 at the Bukal ng Tipan in Taytay, Rizal.