Talking about That Movie

A Jewish leader met with Vatican officials this week to ask them to restate church teachings on the Crucifixion, saying Mel Gibson’s new film contradicts the church’s position that the Jews as a people were not responsible for Jesus’ death.

A top Vatican official who met with Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Wednesday that no such statement was planned. U.S. Archbishop John P. Foley, who heads the Vatican’s social communications office, again praised the film, “The Passion of the Christ,” and said he found nothing anti-Semitic in it.