Church try to cool row on The Passion

This morning's Guardian has a short feature on The Passion of the Christ:



Church tries to cool row over Mel Gibson's film about Christ

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

The Catholic church in America was yesterday set to release church teachings on Jews and reconciliation in an attempt to cool religious passions before the release of Mel Gibson's film about Jesus.

It also reports that Mel Gibson had turned down appeals to add a codicil to the film to allay concerns about anti-semitism, that Laura Bush has expressed interest in the film, and that Abe Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League, has appealed to the Vatican "to issue a directive to bishops that the film represents Gibson's personal vision of the Gospels".