POSITION OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ON THE MEL GIBSON FILM THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

[unofficial translation]

Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ arrives in France on Wednesday, March 31. Even before its arrival the film has provoked polemic and contrasting reactions.

The sincerity of the director is not in doubt, and the film will attract men and women who are perhaps seeking to know Jesus. However, in this film the face of Christ is less apparent than our contemporary obsessions: preoccupation with evil, fascination with violence, pursuit of the guilty.

The director, heavily influenced by a particular cinematographic culture, has chosen to visually portray the last hours of the life of Christ, with a declared intent to recreate history.

These choices are not without consequence:

• The choice to take the Passion out of the context of the life and teaching of Christ, on the one hand, and of the Resurrection accounts on the other, reduces the message of the Gospels in a problematic way. The few flashbacks are too allusive to take into account the complex motivations which gradually led the crowds to follow Jesus, and the controversy regarding his person, his intentions, his mystery.

• In particular, the decision to isolate the Passion from the message of Christ results in not portraying the controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees, the scribes and the Chief Priests: the film presents them at the time of Christ’s arrest and trial in a demented rage. Thus, regardless of whether the film is or is not intentionally antisemitic, it can serve to foster antisemitism.

• As the film crudely recalls the atrocious effects of torture and death on the cross, it does so with a shocking indulgence in scenes of violence. This violence, which overwhelms the viewer, results in eclipsing the meaning of the Passion and more importantly, the essence of the person and the message of Christ: love carried to perfection in the gift of his willing self-sacrifice.

• This extreme violence justifies that the film be forbidden for anyone under 12 years of age. Is it not paradoxical that a film about Jesus cannot be shown to children.

Standing Committee for Information and Communication:

+Mgr Jean-Michel di Falco, President of COPIC

+Mgr Georges Pontier, Vice-President of the French Conference of Bishops

+Mgr Thierry Brac de la Perrière

+Mgr Jean-Charles Descubes