KOLKATA: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) will accept nothing less than a disclaimer, one at the beginning and the other at the end, of the film "The Da Vinci Code" as a pre-requisite to its release.

"We will put pressure on the Government that if this is not done... .it will have to be very clearly told by the distributors of the film that the content of the film is purely fiction," Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson of the CBCI, told The Hindu from New Delhi on Sunday.

Even though the Central Board of Film Certification has called for the insertion of the disclaimer Sony Pictures, the film's distributor in the country, has reportedly stated that the additional disclaimer is not needed as the film already includes a legal card stating the characters and incidents in the film are fictitious. The CBFC recently cleared the film with `A' certification subject to it s carrying a disclaimer at the beginning and towards the end.

"We (CBCI) have been constantly saying that the contents of the film are not true to historical facts. What is unacceptable is passing off fiction as history. While we appreciate and endorse the freedom of speech and thought we also want to safeguard the religious sentiments of the people", Fr. Joseph said.

The Vatican has already disapproved of the contents of the film, he said. "The Church does not accept the contents because of the distortion of history and the caricaturing of Christ. This is not acceptable."

The Vatican's views on the controversial film came up for discussion at a meeting of spokespersons of the Catholic Bishops' Conferences of more than 100 countries organised by the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome late last month, according to Fr. Joseph, who has since returned from the meeting.

"The Vatican's response to the film was discussed and it was agreed that the contents of the film could not be accepted," he said.

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