Cracking 'The Da Vinci Code'

May 23, 2005 — -- Dan Brown's international best-selling thriller "The Da Vinci Code" stirred up controversy when it called into question fundamental principles of Christianity. In his novel, Brown sets forth the theory that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, but instead was married to Jesus and bore his child, and that Jesus' bloodline still exists today.

Brown also claims that the Catholic Church knows and suppresses these stunning revelations, and the truth is guarded by a secret society of visionaries, including the artist Leonardo Da Vinci.

Some critics, such as Daryl Bock, charge that the historical claims in the book are completely false. Bock wrote "Breaking the Da Vinci Code."

"It's the filling in of a blank for which we have absolutely no evidence," Bock said. "I can suggest all kinds of things happened historically if there's no evidence for them and say, hell, believe this. But there is not one shred of evidence."

Even Brown said he began as a skeptic, but his research convinced him and he became a "believer." And the book has struck a deep chord with readers -- 25 million of whom have bought the book.

In a quest to find the answers to these mysterious questions and more, "Good Morning America" sent its correspondents to key locations in the novel to uncover the truth behind the secret society that Brown claims has been guarding this centuries-old secret.

ABC News' David Wright reported from Milan, Italy, from the Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of DaVinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper."

No one disputes that Da Vinci was the ultimate Renaissance man -- a skilled artist and scientist, and one of the most important inventors of his day.

But Brown would add that Da Vinci was a religious radical too, and grand master of a secret society suppressed for years by the Roman Catholic church.

Brown says the proof lies here in a monastery in Milan, where he says the secret has been hiding in plain sight for 500 years -- encoded in the details of the painting.