Good Grief!

Back in December, the fan website for Mel Gibson’s upcoming movie The Passion of the Christ proudly linked to this article titled “Pope Blesses Mel’s Passion”:

Pope John Paul II has commented on Mel Gibson’s controversial film “The Passion of the Christ” after viewing it, saying simply, “It is as it was.”

According to a column by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal, the pope watched a DVD copy of the movie the weekend before last on a TV in his private quarters, accompanied by his closest friend, Monsignor Stanislaw Dziwisz.

Wrote Noonan, “The film, the holy father felt, tells the story the way the story happened. A week later Mr. McEveety was marveling at what he felt was the oracular quality of the statement. ‘Five words. Eleven letters.’”

But then the weirdness starts:

Noonan says McEveety [the film’s co-producer], who had flown to Rome uninvited to show the film to as many Vatican officials as he could, gave the DVD to Dziwisz on Dec. 5.

And this:

McEveety told Noonan: “I was kind of relieved – it’s a scary thing. But Billy Graham saw it and was very supportive, and now JPII. The amazing thing is they’re in agreement on the film.”

JPII?

Anyway, no matter, because Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told the Catholic News Service that “The Holy Father told no-one his opinion of this film”. In today’s BBC online:

[After seeing the film] the Pope allegedly expressed approval for the film, although his spokesman refused to confirm this. However, Archbishop Dziwisz told CNS: “The Holy Father saw the film privately in his apartment, but gave no declaration to anyone.

“He does not make judgements on art of this kind; he leaves that to others, to experts. Clearly, the Holy Father made no judgement of the film.”

Frankly, who gives a damn what the pope thinks of some movie? On a sort-of unrelated note, WorldNetDaily and the BBC also have differing accounts of the Churchill parrot controversy.

UPDATE: Corrected hyperlink.