As we gave coverage to the original story by Peggy Noonan that the Pope had commented on Mel Gibson’s new movie, I feel obligated to pass on this follow-up piece. After Peggy passed on the Pope’s short comment “It is as it was” as his reaction after a screening of “The Passion of the Christ,” there has arisen some controversy over whether the quote is authentic. Frank Rich of the New York Times, an opponent of the film, went after this quote and has now gotten the official word that the Pope does not comment on art. Now Peggy Noonan gives her side of the story.

In a nutshell, the quote was used by Peggy and simultaneously two other news reports who got the quote from Vatican inside sources, not Mel Gibson’s people. But now every official at the Vatican is denying it, saying that someone hacked their e-mail because the e-mails saying to go with that quote did not come from them.

Here’s what I think is going on:

The Pope did say it, unofficially, to the people with him. They passed this along, but it is not as though the Pope ordered up a press release. And short of that, it’s not official. Now everyone involved in blabbing the Pope’s private words is playing a game of CYA – Cover Your Tuckus.

Let’s say Roger Ebert’s brother is sitting with him at a screening of “Gigli” and Roger mutters, “This sucks more than the Black Hole…and I don’t mean the Disney movie, I mean an actual black hole does not suck as much as this piece of crap.” His brother, thinking it a choice comment, passes it on to a reporter who trumpets it in a piece about how bad Gigli is. The only problem is, Ebert never put that on the record; officially, he can say he never made the remark and that anyone wanting to know his feelings about Gigli can read his review where he gives it two and a half stars. (That last part is true, by the way. Ebert gives Gigli 2 1/2 stars, an entire star more than he gave to Gods and Generals, Happy Gilmore and Coneheads, a legitimately funny comedy that got beaten up and overlooked because it was based on a SNL skit.)

In summary: The pope didn’t officially say it, but he said it, and now folks in the Vatican are playing politics.