An upcoming ABC movie on the life of Pope John Paul II is going to focus on the "human point of view" of the pontiff, setting it apart from a competing movie about the pope planned by CBS, according to Italian television veteran Lorenzo Minoli, producer of ABC's film.

"Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II" will air Dec. 1, 8-10 p.m. PST on ABC (check local listings). The network announced its air date after CBS had committed to Dec. 4 and 7 as the dates for its own two-night papal miniseries.

Six years ago in Hollywood, CBS president Les Moonves uttered a now-classic line of hubris about CBS' and NBC's separate TV-movie projects at that time about the life of Christ. "Our Jesus is better than their Jesus," he said.

The CBS version was produced by Minoli. Now that his deal this time is with ABC, would Minoli dare say that "our pope is better than their pope"?

The short answer: No. "There is nothing good in bashing others. I think that one thing I'm sure of is that our movie's different from theirs," Minoli told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from New York, where he was seeing the completed project for the first time.

"I don't want to say my movie is better than the other movie. I want to say my movie's different. The reason is the point of view, the human point of view of this incredible man," Minoli said in heavily accented Italian.

"We focused on some of what I believe are the essential messages that he gave us," he added. "This pope, very much, had no fear."

Throughout "Have No Fear," the pope (Thomas Kretschmann) shows courage and resolve not only as pontiff, but as a cardinal, bishop, priest and student in his native Poland.

In the film a scene of Pope John Paul skirmishing with Polish communists is shown prior to file footage of the Berlin Wall coming down, signaling an end to the communist domination of Eastern Europe. But the pope also expresses his disappointment to Poland's bishops about the heightened materialism and lowered moral values of his homeland after communism.

Minoli said he wanted the audience to understand that "the pope got rid of the communists" but also to have them see that not everything was fine, Minoli said. "He was speaking against ... the material world. And I think that was very important to him."

"Have No Fear" also dramatizes the pope's last public appearance March 30 when he made a surprise appearance at his studio window to bless thousands of pilgrims gathered below in St. Peter's Square. It shows Pope John Paul trying to speak to the crowd using a microphone, but the few syllables he uttered were incomprehensible. He died April 2.

Minoli said the pope was trying to say at that point, "'Have no fear of your being frail, of your weaknesses and of dying,' and it was showing that to young witnesses. I think it was an incredible message."

"Have No Fear" has already been sold to TV networks in 40 countries, Minoli said, but the U.S. audience will be the first to see it.

Being up against the top-rated "Survivor" does not bother Minoli in the slightest.

"Listen, when we had 'Jesus,' we were prime time. We were against a show that nobody could beat ... 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?', and both nights we beat the 'Millionaire.' Now we're against a titan here, and I put my fate in the hands of God. What can I do? And I really believe that this movie is very powerful, a very strong movie and it deserves to be seen."

But if it has to be described as a network competition, then to Minoli it's a friendly competition.

"I have to say I am very pleased that at the end of the day we have competition between two Italian companies, basically, about the pope, and we have two movies about the pope for the American audience," he said. "The pope will be very happy to know that we are bombarding the American audience with movies about his life. And there is a third movie coming out about him. This is the ultimate success."

The third movie Minoli mentioned, "A Man Who Became Pope," aired in August on the Halllmark Channel. The made-for-TV film may get a Golden Globe nomination.