The Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, has criticised the upcoming film Angels & Demons.

The film is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, which claimed that the Church covered up Jesus’ secret marriage to Mary Magdalene. Both films are based on bestselling novels by Dan Brown.

While The Da Vinci Code centred on claims that the Catholic Church had fabricated the idea of the resurrection of Jesus and had covered up Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene, Angels & Demons is focused on a plot by the secret society known as the Illuminati who want revenge on the Catholic Church for massacring its members centuries previously.

The real Illuminati was founded in 1776 as a secret society in Bavaria. While the Bavarian government suppressed the movement there is no evidence that the Catholic Church ever took part in a massacre of the group.

The Bishop of Nottingham described the plot of Angels & Demons as “outlandish” and “total rubbish”, reports The Telegraph.

He said, "It's mischievous to stir up this kind of anti-Catholic sentiment. It's a gratuitous knocking of the Church and I can't see any reason for it … I don't think that Catholics will be interested in seeing this as it's so far removed from the truth."

In the USA, Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has also condemned the film’s director Ron Howard, and the author Dan Brown of “smearing the Catholic church with fabulously bogus tales”.

He also said, "I have never dealt with two more disengenous people … They wouldn't dare treat any other religion like this."

Howard has responded to criticism saying, "Let me be clear: neither I nor Angels & Demons are anti-Catholic. And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is - an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome."

Sony pictures also defended the film saying, "We do not believe the film is anti-Catholic, and we don't believe the nearly 40 million people worldwide who purchased the novel were confused by the fact that this is a fictional mystery thriller."

In the Da Vinci Code the main antagonists were Catholic group Opus Dei. Jack Velero, a spokesman for the real Opus Dei in he UK said the new movie was “bizarre and a total fabrication".

He also said, "I find it offensive, as will other Catholics, but I'm not going to bother spending too much time thinking about it … If anything, this will give us a chance to talk about the Catholic Church and the real things which happen within it."

Tom Hanks, who plays the character Robert Langdon Angels & Demons, described the plot as “playing fast and loose with the truth”.

Speaking to Radio Times, Tom Hanks, 52, said of the film, "Why would I hand this gig to someone else? I'm not stupid. If you can make sense of The Da Vinci Code, you realise Langdon is a highly intelligent, interdisciplinary genius, and that's the sort of part selfish actors try to land.

"We play fast and loose with an awful lot of fact, but a trickle of authenticity makes it plausible. It's not important, but it's fun."

Hanks also spoke of how the previous film, The Da Vinci Code, was not well received by critics.

He said, "The movie did OK with its faked contrivances and goofy hunt through the Priory of Sion, but you should have been in Cannes with us when it opened. The reception couldn't have been worse. Everyone slunk out of town with their heads between their shoulders.

"We called it the 'Bonfire of the Unsold Tickets'. Everything ended up in its proper perspective, which usually happens. The audience wins out.”