Opus Dei Organization

The conservative Roman Catholic group Opus Dei said Tuesday that it had no intention of calling for a boycott of the upcoming film "The Da Vinci Code," but said it hopes the much-awaited film could still be changed so that "there aren't references that would hurt Catholics."

Vatican officials and Opus Dei, the Roman Catholic group portrayed negatively in "The Da Vinci Code," spent part of Good Friday reminding the public of their objections to the film, which has not yet been released. Opus Dei's Japan office asked Sony Corp. to include a disclaimer that would label the thriller as entirely fictional, calling such a decision "an expression of respect toward Jesus Christ, the history of the church and the religious beliefs of viewers."

Roman Catholic scholars gathered in Rome on Thursday to explore whether the soon-to-be-released film version of "The Da Vinci Code" will spread hostile sentiment against the church or provide an opportunity to draw people closer to religion.

So a guy walks up to the doorman at Opus Dei's red brick national headquarters in New York City, points at an upper floor and asks, "Is that where you keep the torture chamber?" "That's ridiculous!" says the doorman. "The torture chamber's in the \o7basement\f7." That's not just a joke. It's a true story as told by the doorman in question, Robert Boone.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the silver-haired senior spokesman for the Vatican and longtime confidant of the late Pope John Paul II, resigned Tuesday after more than two decades in the post. Navarro-Valls, who turns 70 this fall, will be replaced by Father Federico Lombardi, a Jesuit who runs Vatican Radio and the Vatican Television Center. Navarro-Valls' retirement had been expected for some time, as Pope Benedict XVI, elected nearly 15 months ago, assembles his own team of advisors.

When Pope John Paul II arrived at Opus Dei headquarters one March day 11 years ago, even members of the ultraconservative lay religious movement long accustomed to Vatican favor saw the visit as a singular moment in the group's ascendancy within the Roman Catholic Church. The pope had come to pay his respects to Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the prelate of Opus Dei, who had died that day.

Marking the first time he had celebrated a memorial Mass for Opus Dei, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony on Saturday called on an estimated 2,000 members and friends of the conservative Roman Catholic group in attendance to lead saintly lives. Speaking on the feast day of St.