Colombo: Sri Lanka has banned the screening of The Da Vinci Code in theaters and by local television channels following an appeal by the country's Catholic Bishops Conference.
The ban was ordered by the President, Mahinda Rajapakse, on Wednesday.
Though the film released worldwide last week, they have yet to hit theatres in Sri Lanka.
A large part of the Christian community in the country has expressed outrage at the basic premise of the movie - that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and children, and that the Vatican and conservative Catholic group Opus Dei tried to cover it up.
"The movie attacks the very roots of Christian faith and hurts the sentiments of all Christians," the Catholics Bishop Conference said in a letter to the Sri Lankan president.
It called the movie as well as the book blasphemous.
Christians, mostly Roman Catholics, account for about 7.5 per cent of Sri Lanka's population of nearly 19 million people.
However, there will be no ban on the sale of the book, the daily said.
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