"We received written permission to publicize the pope's comment on the film, 'It is as it was,'" said Alan Nierob, Gibson's spokesman, as reported Friday by the New York Daily News.

"Unless we receive an official indication to the contrary," he said, "we will continue to stand by the statement."

The endorsement, Nierob said, came via e-mail from Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican's publicist, who Thursday released a statement saying "it is the holy father's custom not to express public judgments on artistic works."

The new comment follows news earlier this week that Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the pope's right-hand man and Navarro-Valls' boss, denied that the pope approved of Gibson's film.

Critics claim that the controversial film, which chronicles Jesus' last days, is anti-Semitic.