i have been very concerned with the claim that mary m was vilified in a "publicity sting" by pope gregory. finding abolutely no reference there (or anywhere) for such an assertion, it became apparent that the only place you really hear of mary m as a prostitute in a negative way, is in the dvcode, and the books it drew from. the real publicity sting seems to be directed at the catholic church in these books, and through the manipulation used in such conspiracies, mary m is actually starting to be viewed for the first time in history as a harlot in the negative sense. the catholic claim that she was the harlot who was freed and became a saint, is now among non catholics just a harlot. but the real point which suprised me was that in a real way the dvcode really does make mary m a harlot in the worst sense. in the book it is claimed that the heiros gamos was a ritual performed by jesus and mary, and continues through the priory but the heiros gamos is a form of temple prostitution. in other words dan brown is telling us mary m is a prostitute. what do you think of that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_prostitute

Right, whether she was a prostitute or not is beside the point, the real point is that, the claim that she was once a prostitute was NEVER an 'attack on her character', any more than the claim that Paul once persecuted Christians is an attack upon his character, or the claim that Matthew was once a tax collector is an attack upon the character of Matthew. If she was a prostitute, then she stands as a role model for all other women in similar circumstances, from prostitutes, to strippers and porn stars, that they too can turn their lives around, if she was a prostitute, then she is a symbol of hope that one can abandon a life of sin to become a great saint. That ain't no 'slander'.