I haven’t seen the new film about Mary Magdalene (reviewed in The Tablet on 17 March), but I have read quite a lot about it and, frankly, I find the whole thing bizarre: all this talk about “restoring her reputation” and how she has been “traduced” by being “known as a whore”. The coverage has been packed with jaw-dropping ignorance and prejudice.

Rooney Mara, the star of the film, says in one interview: “All these men who are in this story have churches around the world in their name, yet she is known as the whore.” There are 226 parish churches in England alone dedicated to Mary Magdalene, more than to several of the “official” Apostles.