DRAC, the French archaeological body of France, knows nothing about this. Nobody in France is taking that much notice of this. It has yet to appear in a French newspaper article. Even though it has been in circulation since 1999. A con.

Sounds like another Anti-Christian movie.

Surprise, surprise - How did I know Paul Smith would be the first to post a comment?

I saw it and it's not half bad. It is a fun diversion but not hard science. Worth a watch or rental.

The promoters of Andre Douzet and believers in the bogus Rennes-le-Chateau "mystery" have done their own debunking of "Bloodline".

Absolutely nothing to do with jealousy or esoteric rivalry, of course!

Just heard about the movie this morning on ABC. I remember what Carl Sagan said about theories in "Demon Haunted World", that they are only as strong as their weakest link.

The Priory of Sion was admitted as a lie in court by its inventor (I forget the name, its in Holy Blood Holy Grail). I am in TOTAL agreement with the other posters that say it needs more hard science and archeology. Everyone is falling for anything these days.

The concept that Mary Magdalene came to southern France was debunked in the 20's by no less than Arthur Waite. We would do better to pay attention to a dead occultist.

If this documentary can illuminate details around Sauniere's life and death, then it is worthy of the time and effort....the Jesus Mary thing..two thousand years is too long ago and no proof sufficient for those who choose to believe or not.

Sauniere's life is well documented. The only mysteries that surround his life and death are the fabricated lies that have arisen since the 1950s. And which Bruce Burgess is repeating.

The movie claims that a priest named Berenger Saunier discovered the truth about Jesus and Mary and was paid millions to keep quiet by the Vatican. Here is the more likely truth and that is he ripped off his parishioners for millions.


From Wikipedia:
The popular story of Saunière's wealth
Supporters of the various conspiracy theories of Rennes-le-Château believe that while renovating his parish church in 1891, Saunière found ancient documents relating to a great historical secret. These theories allege that, through his possession of these documents, Saunière was somehow able to obtain much more wealth than would be expected of a parish priest. The documents were allegedly discovered in a "hollow visigothic pillar" according to the book "Le Tresor Maudit" by Gerard de Sede.

Following Saunière's death in 1917 a mystique developed about the priest's source of wealth. There was a theory that he was paid vast sums of money by the Catholic Church to buy his silence on a secret that would have seriously undermined the church's power: the most extraordinary claim being that he had discovered the grave in which Christ had been buried, implying that Christ had not ascended to heaven.


The actual source of Saunière's wealth
Saunière's source of wealth is of petty church scandal: "The source of the wealth of the priest of Rennes-le-Chateau was not some ancient mysterious treasure, but good old fashioned fraud."

According to canon law, priests were allowed to say up to three masses per day and to accept a fee for requested prayers for the dead. Saunière, however, had been soliciting and accepting money via the post to say thousands of masses, charging one franc per mass. Some clients would send payment for hundreds of masses, which he never actually performed. In 1906, he was summoned before the Bishop's Court in Carcassonne, where the bishopric ordered Saunière to stop advertising for masses, an order which Saunière strained every effort not to obey.

Saunière's account books, detailing how much money he was receiving from the selling of masses that he could not actually perform, run into thousands of pages.