It may have diaglogue in only Latin and Aramaic (with no English subtitles), it may address several complicated religious issues, and it may have the entire Hollywood community and Mel Gibson action-movie lovers scratching their heads. But the actor swears his upcoming film about the last hours of Jesus Christ is most certainly neither anti-Catholic nor anti-Semitic.

"To be certain, neither I nor my film is anti-Semitic," Gibson said in a statement to Daily Variety.

The statement comes after unholy attacks on the film from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, who claimed the movie painted both Catholics and Jews in an unflattering light.

Both groups got worried about the film's content after Gibson's extremely religious father (he adheres to a radical form of Catholicism disavowed by the Vatican) was interviewed by the New York Times Magazine in March, making some rash statements about religion and suggested that the Holocaust may never have taken place. Both groups then obtained an early edition script from the film and got up in arms about its portrayal of Jews and Catholics.

Gibson said the script was stolen, and the Catholic group has since recanted, apologizing for slamming an unfinished film and promising to return all the unauthorized copies of the script. "We regret that this situation has occurred and offer our apologies," Mark Chopko, general counsel for the Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement.

Icon, Gibson's production company, is also in talks with the Jewish group for a similar apology.

Nevertheless, the Braveheart actor felt compelled to defend his movie, which chronicles the last 12 hours of Christ's life, as taken from the four gospels of the New Testament, as well as his morals.

"The Passion is a movie meant to inspire not offend," Gibson continued in his statement. "My intention in bringing it to the screen is to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds (or none) who have varying familiarity with this story."

The biggest beef Gibson and his producer have with the religious organizations is that they made passed judgment on the movie before seeing it.

"While we respect everyone's right to their opinion about the film," producer Steve McEveety told Variety, "no one has a right to publicly critique a film that has not even been completed, let alone base their critique on an outdated version of the script which has been illegally obtained."

So for the record, Gibson would like to make his opinions clear:

• On Jews: "They are my friends and associates, both in my work and social life. Thankfully, treasured friendships forged over decades are not easily shaken by nasty innuendo. Anti-Semitism is not only contrary to my personal beliefs, it is also contrary to the core message of my movie."
• On Discrimination: "If the intense scrutiny during my 25 years in public life revealed I had ever persecuted or discriminated against anyone based on race or creed, I would be all too willing to make amends. But there is no such record."
• On that whole Latin-Aramaic-no subtitles thing: "Obviously, no one wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages. Hopefully I'll be able to transcend language barriers with visual storytelling."
• On The Passion: "For those concerned about the content of this film...[it] is a movie about faith, hope, love and forgiveness-something sorely needed in these turbulent times."

For now, everyone involved will have to wait for the final release of the $25-million movie. It wrapped filming in April and is set for a spring 2004 release, though Icon has not yet found a distributor.

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