Jerusalem bishop says film on Jesus tomb ’should just be ignored’

NAZARETH, Israel (CNS) -- Auxiliary Bishop Giacinto-Boulous Marcuzzo of Jerusalem called James Cameron’s Discovery Channel documentary, “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” nothing more than “a question of business.” Bishop Marcuzzo said that the film, which aired March 4 in the United States and March 6 in Canada, was just an attempt by the Oscar-winning director of Hollywood films “Titanic” and “The Terminator,” to make a profit. In a March 1 interview in Nazareth, the bishop said the documentary has the potential for creating confusion among the faithful by purporting that a tomb discovered nearly 30 years ago in Jerusalem’s East Tlpiyot neighborhood contained the bones of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and their “son,” Judah. “People of faith, everyone, really, should dismiss this as nothing but nonsense,” he said. “It should just be ignored.” At a press conference in New York City Feb. 26, Cameron, who is Canadian, and his partner, Israeli-born filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici of Toronto, announced that by using new technology and DNA studies they determined that among 10 ossuaries -- burial boxes used in biblical times to house the bones of the dead -- found in the cave by Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner in 1980 are those of Jesus, his brothers, Mary, another Mary whom they believe is Mary Magdalene, and “Judah, son of Jesus.” Kloner wrote the original excavation report on the site for what is now called the Israel Antiquities Authority. He has called the fimmakers’ claim “nonsense.”