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Gibson's 'Christ' Puts Vatican in Bind

NPR | By Sylvia Poggioli

Published February 2, 2004 at 10:00 PM MST

Mel Gibson's film The Passion of The Christ -- which seeks to portray the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life -- has prompted awkward Vatican denials that Pope John Paul II warmly endorsed the movie after a private viewing. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Sylvia Poggioli

Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's foreign desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe and the Balkans.

See stories by Sylvia Poggioli