clarifications

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 13, 2004

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 11, 2004 (Zenit.org). - A Vatican spokesman says the film "The Passion of the Christ" cannot be considered anti-Semitic without also regarding the Gospel the same way. Joaquín Navarro-Valls made this statement in response to a request from Riccardo Di Segni, chief rabbi of Rome, who, after seeing the film Tuesday, asked that the Vatican condemn it officially.

LONDON, MARCH 12, 2004 (Zenit.org). - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales has not made an official declaration about the film "The Passion of the Christ." A source cited in Thursday's dispatch was actually a reflection of the "personal declarations" of a press officer, the bishops' conference said. ZENIT regrets the error.

JERUSALEM, APRIL 26, 0033 (Menit.org). - A spokesman for the Prefecture of Judea explained that the Governor did not make a solemn pronouncement by affixing the titulus "king of the Jews" to the stipes (vertical suspension beam) of a Galilean criminal executed last Friday, but was expressing a purely personal opinion. "What I have written I have written, " insisted the Governor in a prepared statement, "that's not to say I ever meant it."