ROME — The Vatican stepped up its offensive against "The Da Vinci Code" on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict XVI said the book was full of anti-Christian lies and urged Roman Catholics to boycott the film.

Archbishop Angelo Amato, the No. 2 official in the Vatican's doctrinal office, described the book as "stridently anti- Christian" and said that it was "full of calumnies, offenses and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the church." He added, "I hope that you all will boycott the film."

The movie stars Tom Hanks and its premiere takes place next month at the Cannes film festival.

Addressing a Catholic conference in Rome, Amato said the book, written by Dan Brown, had been hugely successful around the world thanks in part to what he called "the extreme cultural poverty on the part of a good number of the Christian faithful." The book has sold more than 40 million copies.

The novel is an international murder mystery centered on attempts to uncover a secret about the life of Jesus that a clandestine society has tried to protect for centuries. The central tenet of the book is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that they had children.