Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II appears in the account through a single, consequential episode: after seeing Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, he was deeply moved and murmured, “It is as it was!” The Vatican’s spokesmen quickly withdrew the remark, replacing this glimpse of an immediate response with an official neutrality that the book treats as an example of how liberal tolerance can suppress, rather than resolve, religious passion.

Reaction to the Film

Immediately after seeing The Passion of the Christ, Pope John Paul II was deeply moved. He murmured, “It is as it was!” The remark is presented as a spontaneous response to the film, not as a considered public statement or a developed account of his views.

The Official Response and Its Significance

Vatican spokesmen quickly withdrew the Pope’s remark, and an official neutral position took its place. The book describes that position as adjusted to avoid offending anyone. It does not say that Pope John Paul II himself withdrew his words; instead, the contrast is between his reported spontaneous reaction and the institution’s public handling of it.

The episode serves the book’s critique of liberal tolerance and politically correct caution. In its reading, neutralizing an expression of religious passion does not make that passion disappear: it leaves it repressed beneath the surface, where it may grow stronger. Pope John Paul II’s brief reaction thus matters less as a statement of doctrine than as the point at which an unguarded response and its institutional management become sharply visible.