It's been an international bestseller for more than two years now, but it appears Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has finally earned the wrath of the Catholic Church.

An Italian cardinal who has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II slammed the book Tuesday, urging those book lovers who haven't read it yet not to.

Genoa Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says the novel is a collection of "shameful and unfounded lies" and a "gross and absurd" distortion of history.

"The book is everywhere. There is a very real risk that many people who read it will believe that the fables it contains are true," he said.

"It aims to discredit the Church and its history through gross and absurd manipulations," Bertone told the Milan newspaper Il Giornale.

Characters in The Da Vinci Code allege that the Church has suppressed the truth about Jesus Christ, which is that he supposedly married Mary Magdalene and had children.

Cardinal Bertone says the book's runaway success is proof of "anti-Catholic" prejudice.

"You don't do a novel mystifying historic dates or speaking badly or defaming a historic person who has his prestige and his fame in the history of the Church, in the story of humanity," Bertone said in an interview with Vatican Radio.

"I ask myself: If a similar book was written, full of lies about Buddha, Mohammed, or, even for example, if a novel came out that manipulated all the history of the Holocaust or of the Shoah, what would have happened?"

Bertone also criticized Catholic bookshops that have been stocking the popular title.

"The distribution strategy has been absolutely exceptional marketing, even at Catholic bookstores... which, for profit motives, have stacks of this book," said Bertone.

"There's that strategy of persuasion - that one isn't an adult Christian if you don't read this book. Thus my appeal is: Don't read and don't buy The Da Vinci Code."

'Church is easy target'

Ted Schmidt, the editor of the Catholic New Times, told CTV's Canada AM Wednesday that he has read the novel. While he'll admit he enjoyed it as "mind candy," he finds the historical inaccuracies almost laughable.

Nevertheless, he thinks he understands why the book has been so popular and why Hollywood is planning a movie version starring Tom Hanks.

"I think it probably has appeal because in a post-modern age, so many people are pretty negative about institutions. And with all the problems that the Catholic Church has had, particularly in North America, it's an easy target today."

Following Bertone's comments, book publisher Doubleday released a response saying that the ideas in The Da Vinci Code have been circulating for centuries.

"This novel explores them in an accessible work of fiction... Doubleday certainly respects Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican and their desire to clarify any factual errors they feel may have been made in The Da Vinci Code."

Schmidt says he's glad to see people debating the book's authenticity, because it shows people are interested in learning more about the history of Christianity.

"From my point of view, if people are discussing things, it's exciting. I went to a United Church in my neighbourhood, although I'm a Catholic, and they had a good discussion about it. That's the way to deal with these things.

"The Church should be refuting it in logical ways."

Bertone will be the key speaker at a roundtable in Genoa on Wednesday night attempting to dismantle the book.