The Vatican: Succumbing to the lure of commercialisation, the grand poohbah of the Catholics touts Mel Gibson's vanity pic.
The Vatican has always been scrupulous in preventing the Pope's name from being linked to commercial products. But after a private viewing of Mel Gibson's forthcoming film about the Crucifixion, Pope John Paul II reportedly commented:It is as it was. For five weeks that pithy, invaluable endorsement of the film Gibson has made with his own money, about the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, was allowed to stand.
Vatican anger over crucifixion film claim - The Independent, 21 January 2004.
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Actually there appears to be some controversy over what if anything he said. I can't remember which blog I read it on, but apparently some Vatican officials are denying the story.
MKK
Um. Actually, the point of that article is that it's come out that the claims of Vatican endorsement of the film are studio puffery....