NEW YORK – At Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza on Staten Island, there is a treat even the most devout can feast on this Good Friday.

A specialty pizza catering to Catholics during Lent features tender chunks of lobster, crabmeat and shrimp drizzled with a champagne and blackberry brandy cream sauce, tomatoes and scallions, scattered above a layer of homemade fresh mozzarella cheese. Atop a cheese and coconut-infused 10-inch crust, it’s a slice of heaven.

But some say the name its creators chose for the pizza, the “Passion of the Crust,” is sinful.

It’s a play on “The Passion of the Christ,” Mel Gibson’s film about the crucifixion of Jesus.

The restaurant’s co-owner, Scot Cosentino, a Scientologist, and executive chef Sal Russo, a Catholic, say they meant no disrespect in their choice of a catchy name.

“We wanted to give everybody a chance to have a special pizza,” Russo explained, adding the pie has been popular since it was introduced at the start of Lent, and especially so on Fridays, when Catholics must abstain from eating meat.

The name, both said, derives from their passion for pizza, and the special coconut crust. “Nothing against the church,” Russo said.

“We’re very passionate when we describe our pizza to our customers,” he said. “They start to drool.”

He gestured to the old-fashioned brick oven where a Passion pizza was turning a gooey golden brown and joked that he sometimes sees a heavenly light shining from inside. “If you listen very closely, you can hear the voices of the archangels,” he said.

Russo said pizzeria staff called St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan to try to arrange for an official blessing of the pie, in preparation for his journey to Las Vegas on April 1 to enter it in the International Pizza Challenge. But the archdiocese called back and said the name of the pizza was too controversial, he said.

Though some feathers may have been ruffled, other deeply religious people said they had no beef with the seafood pie.

“It’s perfect,” proclaimed Manny Kalgoridis, a contractor from Edison, N.J., who is a regular at Goodfella’s when he’s working on projects in the area. Kalgoridis, who is Eastern Orthodox, said he has been fasting for Lent and has eaten no meat or dairy products since the start of the 40-day season.

“Take it to the churches; they’ll jump right on that,” he said of the pizza, before realizing the slice he had just eaten was covered with cheese.

The restaurant offers T-shirts with the Goodfella’s logo and “It’s about the Passion!!” written on the back, free for any customer who orders the $15.99 pizza.