Thus, the five-word answer to the question posed to the Holy Father: "What did you think of Gibson's Passion?" Pope John Paul II recently viewed a pre-release version of the movie in the papal apartments. Peggy Noonan also has some insightful commentary on the subject; including this gem on why church officials seem to be so reluctant to take a stand on the movie, yet feign authority on matters well beyond their competence: "The church is very odd these days in that it dodges those controversies on which it has known authority and expertise, and seems to embrace those controversies on which it seems to have nothing to add but airy non sequiturs."
