CW FISHER

The Pope is denying to the press that he ever said anything of record to Mel Gibson about his new movie.

My friends, things get no stranger than that. Popes deny nothing to the press, ever. They're not supposed to have to.

Of course the Pope said something! Of course he said something nice! He's the Pope! He just saw "The Passion," the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life. What else would he say? "Nice shirt?"

The Pope probably did say something like, "It is as it was." So what? That's how he talks. Clinton talked that too, depending on what is was. Big whip. The Pope also passes out souvineers, but that doesn't make him Ronald McDonald, anymore than saying 'nice flick' makes him Roger Ebert.

Of course he said, "It is as it was," because it was. Gibson didn't veer from the script. He even kept the dialogue in the orginal languages, which the pope had to appreciate, since he speaks all of them and could also read the English subtitles, and probably did, thinking it was a prompter. I wonder how he watched the movie... on his back? Maybe they projected it on the floor.

Anyway. Mel, to whom it is said the pope bestowed this high praise, turned right around and told Extra.

Jesus, Mel.

Have you still no humility? Can no man beat it into you?

I have always liked Mel Gibson. I knew he was a star from the moment I saw him strapped, beaten and bloodied, to the leg of a helicopter in Road Warrior. Then when I saw him in Lethal Weapon, beaten and bloodied, but coming back for more, in scene after scene, movie after movie. Then Braveheart, beaten and bloody, ripped limb to limb. Christ, now this. Beaten, bloody, nailed to a cross.

How can you not like Mel Gibson? His wife is dead, he lost everything, the whole world's out to get him and he's innocent. Is he bitter? Sometimes, but he's chockful of action and adventure otherwise — almost suicidal in his mission -- and he excels, to this day, at playing the beaten/bloody/unbowed hero who might die or might not but will surely live in our hearts forever. This describes every movie Mel Gibson has ever made. Especially his latest, which is roughly the story upon which all his other stories have been based.