In October, Gibson's Icon Productions film company and independent movie specialist Newmarket Films agreed to jointly distribute "Passion of Christ" starting on February 25.
ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II has seen the controversial Mel Gibson movie, "The Passion of Christ, " and he liked it, Vatican sources said Wednesday.
In the Passion of Christ, argues the pope, the Greek aesthetic of ideal beauty had not been rejected but rather overcome by a broader vision that included brokenness and suffering.
Even though Gibson is a high-profile actor and Oscar winning director of films such as "Braveheart, " "Passion of Christ" could not find a major motion picture studio that would distribute it due to the controversy.
But with subtle details, countertenor Ryland Angel and the Trinity violins, led by concertmaster Robert Mealy (who was key to the spirit of this performance), turned it into a nuanced picture of the Passion of Christ.
Mel Gibson's controversial new film, "The Passion of Christ, " which at first had a hard time finding a distributor, will be independently released on about 2, 000 screens in the United States next month, a Gibson spokesman said on Wednesday.
The procession stops fourteen times recalling the scenes of Jesus' torture and crucifixion, known as the Passion of the Christ.
Meanwhile, The Passion of the Christ continues to attract audiences around the globe.
It has toppled Mel Gibson's Almighty epic The Passion of the Christ from the top of the North American box office charts.
Films with faith-based messages have consistently done well, from Passion of the Christ to The Chronicles of Narnia movies and countless others.
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The overwhelming success of movies like Passion of the Christ and The Blind Side, with their Christian themes, stunned Hollywood and movie critics.
He eventually became a camera assistant working on films ranging from Haunted Mansion to The Passion of the Christ before teaming up with Argy.
"We certainly had higher expectations than what we got, " said Rob Schwartz, head of distribution for Newmarket Films, which released The Passion of the Christ.
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Closer to the American mainstream are the box office film hit (which no one had predicted) The Passion of the Christ and the bestseller book by Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold more than 15 million copies.
But before that, the last really major international films made at Cinecitta were Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, shot way back in 2004, and Martin Scorsese's The Gangs of New York, which came out a decade ago.
Concerns that arose among some Jewish groups over his handling of the story of Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004 were replaced by widespread condemnations two years later when Gibson was arrested on a drunk driving charge.
For a more Catholic flavor, try the Procession of Our Lord of Passion , when a statue of Christ is paraded through the streets to Macau Cathedral.
And I think of hanging -- watching Christ hang from the cross, enduring the final seconds of His passion.
Passion plays developed to tell the story of the trial suffering and death of Jesus Christ.
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