Amazing article! Thanks for posting, Sasha! :glow:
In a weird way I believe Passion of the Christ might've paved the way for an adaptation like The Da Vinci Code.
One could write a book based on the timing and modern context of a book/film like The Code. First of all the Catholic Church had lost many believers and is said to be on one of its worst periods, losing power and catholics to "alternate religions", etc.
Yet this book has a theory that attacks the base of all the Catholic/Christian faith and it DID cause an uproar and spawn serious conversations and analisis of Christian history. But Passion of the Christ showed that the Christian faith still moves the masses, even to the theaters, so all claims that Christian faith was declining were halted. This book, however, goes against what Christians hold so dear so the audience it has probably branches way outside, even to people who call themselves atheists.
Then we have the new Pope which is quite vocal and strong. The book/film may be fiction but it's based on sacred reality so. Must be tough!