Did Pope Endorse Mel Gibson's 'Passion'?

Jan. 22, 2004 -- It's not as if Mel Gibson's film The Passion was lacking publicity.

It is billed as a highly realistic — i.e., violent — depiction of the last hours of the life of Jesus Christ. For months, fears the film might fuel anti-Semitism and concerns it might depict Jews unfairly fueled worldwide news coverage.

But then the film's co-producer, Steve McEveety, who had been showing it to clergy all over Rome, said he had the ultimate "thumbs-up" review — from Pope John Paul II himself. McEveety quoted the pope as saying of the film: "It is as it was."

Web sites for the film used the quote as an endorsement. Then serious columnists started castigating the Vatican for getting roped into film promotion.

But the pope's closest aide, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who rarely talks on the record, denied the claim in a statement to a reporter in Rome. "I said clearly to McEveety that the Holy Father made no declaration," he said. "I said the Holy Father saw the film privately in his apartment, but gave no declaration to anyone."

Everyone Wants the Pope’s Blessing

It's a perennial problem for the Vatican. Every now and then, people try to wrangle a papal endorsement for some product or idea.

When the pope visited Denver 10 years ago, a story spread that he loved the American chocolate drink Yoo-hoo and was ordering cases of it — which the Vatican finally had to flatly deny.

In today's dust-up, the Vatican probably does not want to see movie ads display a quote attributed to the pope alongside all the other blurbs — especially if the film stirs up more controversy.

But now, several U.S. columnists are quoting earlier e-mails from a Vatican spokesman that apparently encourage the filmmakers to use the quote "It is as it was."

Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News has an e-mail he says was leaked to him by someone on Mel Gibson's staff. It appears to be from the Vatican's official spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls: "Make the words 'it is as it was' the leit motive (sic) in any discussion of the film. Repeat the words again and again."

After the denial from the pope's closest aide, Dreher e-mailed the Vatican spokesman about this earlier e-mail. Navarro-Valls replied that it was not authentic: "I can categorically deny its authenticity," he wrote.

Dreher is not convinced and says he thinks the Vatican is trying to reverse itself, adding, "I think it's a disgrace. I think the Vatican has to remember the commandment 'Do not bear false witness.'"

And now the Vatican spokesman has issued another statement that says simply: "It's the pope's habit never to express public judgments on artistic works."

But did the pope comment privately? Whatever John Paul II did or did not say, for Gibson's film, it all seems to be classic proof of the advertising adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity.