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"[Dreher and I] did some checking on Dr. Navarro-Valls's e-mail to me," Noonan writes today. "It was sent via an e-mail server in the Vatican's domain, and the IP address belongs to a Vatican computer."

Both Dreher and Noonan note that their implications—that several Vatican officials are lying—is no small deal. "While to some this may seem a tempest in a teapot, it is not. It is an important story," Noonan writes. "he truth matters. What a pope says matters. And what this pontiff says about this film matters"—especially, she notes, with the controversy over whether it is anti-Semitic.

Wither top officials of Mel Gibson's production company are manipulative deceivers or the top aide to Pope John Paul II and the papal spokesman is," writes Dreher. "Here's what I think: The pope was quoted accurately, but, for some reason, Vatican officials became uncomfortable with it. So they changed their official story. If doing so makes honorable filmmakers and journalists, Catholics among them, come off as sleazebags or dupes—well, that's life. If that's the game the Holy See is playing, that's a crying shame."

More on The Passion of the Christ :

• Gibson expects 'worst to come' over Christ film | Gibson did not mention the Vatican denial when he addressed 4,500 evangelical Christian pastors. He thanked them for their prayers, but warned, somewhat ominously "I anticipate the worst is yet to come. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong" (Reuters)
  
  
• New Christian movie stirring passions | While it is sure to be extremely painful to watch, and a wracking emotional journey, we feel "The Passion of the Christ" will be as close to a religious experience as art can get (Editorial, Turlock Journal, Calif.)
  
  
• Gibson says faith led to film of Christ's last hours | More than 1,500 people turned out at CedarCreek Church in Perrysburg Township last night to get a glimpse of Mel Gibson's upcoming movie The Passion of The Christ and to watch a satellite interview with the Hollywood star about why he made the movie (The Toledo Blade)
  
  
• Clergy see Gibson film as tool | Inland pastors say the movie about the last hours of Christ's life has a powerful message (The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.)
  
  
• Gibson 'Passion' film wows Christians, vexes Jews | It's hard to imagine a movie provoking such contrasting reactions among Jews and Christians as Mel Gibson 's "The Passion of the Christ," the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ (Reuters)
  
  
• 5,000 pastors cheer Mel Gibson's 'Passion' | Famed film actor and producer Mel Gibson told 5,000 pastors yesterday that "there will always be opposition" to films on the Gospel, "but you have to stand your ground and slug it out" (The Washington Times)
  
  

Roe v. Wade at 31:

• House panel okays fetus-protection bill | The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would make it a separate federal crime to kill or injure a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman (Associated Press)
  
  
• 'Cultural shift' favors pro-lifers | A decade of pro-life advocates "chipping away" at Roe v. Wade has shifted the momentum to their side and put pro-choice advocates on the defensive, experts on both sides of the argument said, even while the Supreme Court's decision remains the law of the land (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Abortion foes target Planned Parenthood | Energized by successes in Texas and Michigan, activists opposed to abortion are expanding aggressive campaigns against a favorite target — the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (Associated Press)
  
  

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January (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48