Jon Voight plays Pope Johns Paul II

[PSYCHOcatholic]

VATICAN CITY, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict and Oscar winner Jon Voight attended a special screening on Thursday of a television mini-series in which Voight plays the late Pope John Paul.

Benedict watched the film attentively along with several thousand people in the Vatican's large audience hall and then delivered a brief address thanking the producers and cast.

"The affective and spiritual ties with John Paul, which became intense in the days of his agony and death, continues," the Pope said.

"It is a link that has not melted away because it is one that joins souls," said Benedict, who greeted and thanked the 66-year-old Voight personally.

Voight, who shot to fame 36 years ago as an aspiring gigolo in "Midnight Cowboy," plays the late John Paul from the time of his election in 1978 until his death last April 2.

Many people in the large hall cried openly during some of the most moving and vivid scenes, including when the Pope was rushed to hospital after an assassination attempt in 1981 and when the Pontiff was on his deathbed last April.

The film includes detailed reconstructions of events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, including the pope's historic trips to his Polish homeland when it was still under the yoke of communism.

The four-hour mini-series will be broadcast on December 4 and December 7 in the United States on CBS, which is owned by Viacom Inc.

It had special approval from the Vatican. Some of the scenes were shot in the same rooms where the events actually took place, a rarity for films about the Vatican.

The audience applauded when an actor who played Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger -- the current pope's name before his election last April, appeared on the screen.

In an interview with Reuters before the screening, Voight, who won an Oscar for best actor playing a handicapped Vietnam veteran in the 1978 film "Coming Home," said his Catholic upbringing helped him get into the role.

"I have to tell you, I had a wonderful time doing the Pope, maybe because I understood more than most what he was since I had a Catholic background," he said.

"I was not intimidated to take this role because I did not have to go to school from scratch to be comfortable with the surroundings of the Church. I'd been there before," he said

-By Philip Pullella

Thought that was pretty interesting...isn't it also cool that Voight looks alot like John Paul 2.

(i would have put JP2...but i KNOW someone would have made a statement about Jurrasic Park!) lol