Ireland's Chief Rabbi, the Rev Dr Yaakov Pearlman, has called on the Catholic Church to denounce Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ as anti-Semitic. It went on general release in the US last night and will be released here on March 12th.
Chief Rabbi Pearlman saw the film in Dublin at a special preview on Monday. Afterwards he told The Irish Times it would be important for the Catholic Church to restate its Vatican II position on Jews "and to clarify what exactly is the situation where the Church is concerned about it (the film)".
Last December it was reported that Pope John Paul had seen a video of the film and was moved by it. "It is as it was," he was reported to have said. However five weeks after that report, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope's private secretary, said the Pope "told no-one of his opinion".
"He does not make judgments on art of this kind. He leaves that to others, to experts."
Chief Rabbi Pearlman said that at the Second Vatican Council the Catholic Church had absolved all Jews, past and present, of any responsibility for the crucifixion of Jesus. It had also denounced anti-Semitism. The Passion of the Christ portrayed Jews "as bloodthirsty, evil, barbaric and as having betrayed and informed on Jesus", he said. It undermined "the Vatican II initiative and I am afraid it will open up old wounds and influence or ignite the anti-Semitism which is growing across Europe today," he said.
"I definitely recommend the Catholic Church come out and restate its position. It would do a lot to calm down possible anti-Semitism," he said.
However the former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Rev Dr Trevor Morrow, found the film "powerful and deeply emotional".
"I didn't feel it was even remotely anti-Semitic. If there were elements that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic then the same criticism can be made of the Gospels," he said.
Dr Seán Freyne, Professor Emeritus of Theology at Trinity College Dublin, did not like the film. He did not notice any overt anti-Semitism in it, but felt it ran the risk of anti-Semitic undertones. He distrusted its emphasis on laying blame for the crucifixion of Jesus on Jews, while exonerating the Romans.