Rome Churches Deny Filming Requests for "Angels and Demons"

The Italian Catholic Church has refused to let a new movie, based on Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, be filmed after the controversial The Da Vinci Code outraged the Vatican, Reuters reports.

Angels and Demons, which is a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, and set to star Tom Hanks and Ewan MacGregor, is set mostly in Rome and the Vatican.

Filming for the movie began earlier this month, but requests to film at Rome's Santa Maria del Polpolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria churches were denied.

Rev. Marco Fibbi, spokesman for the Archdiocese, said the interior ministry received a request to film from the film's producers and asked the Archdiocese, but the Archdiocese recommended that no filming be allowed.

The Da Vinci Code, which hypothesized that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and started a royal bloodline kept secret by the Catholic Church, was extremely controversial and denounced by the Vatican.

Christians are taught that Jesus was never married and rose from the dead.