Dan Brown, whose The Da Vinci Code was condemned by the Vatican, has said he would like to meet Pope Benedict XVI. Interviewed by La Repubblica to mark the publication in Italy of his latest novel, The Lost Symbol, Mr Brown said even Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic organisation represented in The Da Vinci Code by a murderous monk, had understood that it was "only a novel".

Asked it was true he had sought a papal audience, Mr Brown said that to ask to meet the Pope would be impolite and would only "embarrass" the pontiff. "He might receive me while thinking he should not do so", he said. But if invited to Rome he would "jump on a plane. Certainly there are many things we would not agree on, but that does not matter".

The Da Vinci Code, which suggests that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had children, was condemned as blasphemous by the Vatican, which asked the faithful to boycott both the book and the film starring Tom Hanks. However the more recent film of Mr Brown's Angels and Demons, set against the background of a papal conclave and also starring Tom Hanks as a Harvard symbologist, offered a positive image of the Catholic Church and was favourably reviewed by L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

Mr Brown said he had considered at one point basing a thriller on the mysterious death of Roberto Calvi, the banker linked to both the Mafia and the Vatican who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 . He was aware of the associated scandals linked to the Vatican bank, organised crime and an illegal masonic lodge code named P2, but had put the idea aside for the time being.

When La Repubblica pointed out that his themes - power, religion, the secret services, freemasonry and women - were all linked to Silvio Berlusconi, the controversial Italian Prime Minister, Mr Brown replied "Oh oh - The Berlusconi Code! I like it. Great title". However he did not know much about Mr Berlusconi's legal troubles, and "I think that anyone who runs a country should be given the benefit of the doubt. It is a difficult job in a difficult world".