VATICAN CITY, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Pope John Paul's spokesman has denied the pontiff has endorsed Mel Gibson's controversial film about Jesus, despite contrary claims by the film's producers.
As Gibson, who personally financed the $25 million to make "The Passion of Christ," gears up to release the film on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday, supporters are touting the pope's endorsement, according to Tuesday's New York Daily News.
The pope's office challenges the claims of support of the film, which depicts Jesus' torturous death and which has been called anti-Semitic by some Jews.
"The Holy Father told no one his opinion of this film," said Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope's longtime personal secretary. "He does not make judgments on art of this kind; he leaves that to others, to experts."
Alan Nierob, a spokesman for the producers, said they have an e-mail from Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman, supporting their claim that the pope approved of the film.
"I saw it in writing myself," Nierob said. "He confirmed that statement, 'It is as it was.'"
