Coimbra, Portugal, Jan 11, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Mel Gibson met with Sr. Lucia of Fatima at the Convent in Coimbra, Portugal, and screened “The Passion of the Christ” for the Carmelite community there during Lent 2004, reveals the latest issue of the Fatima Bulletin.
The request came from the community. A young Portuguese girl offered to communicate with a volunteer worker for Icon Productions, whom she knew, to try to organize of the film at the convent. This contact got the ball rolling. After 92 e-mails and several phone calls, a screening was organized.
The logistics for the secret screening were challenging since the nuns have only a very small TV and the film was not yet out on video or DVD.
Therefore, Gibson had a large pull-down screen, a full crew of cameramen, a speaker and extras set up at the convent for the Lent screening. The Fatima Bulletin estimates that it must have cost Gibson up to $20,000.