Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Pope: Resurrection "a real historical event"

Jesus' Resurrection was a 'real historical event,' Pope proclaims

Vatican City, Apr 15, 2009 / 09:59 am (CNA).- At his first General Audience of this Easter Season, Pope Benedict XVI said before more than 30,000 people that Christians must forcefully proclaim Jesus' Resurrection as “a real historical event, borne out by many authoritative witnesses.”

"The astonishing novelty of the Resurrection is so important that the Church never ceases to proclaim it, perpetuating its memory, especially on Sundays, the Lord's Day and the weekly Easter of the people of God," explained the Pope, who traveled to the Vatican by helicopter from his residence in Castel Gandolfo.

Instead of a far away, mythical story, we must proclaim Jesus' Resurrection as “a real historical event, borne out by many authoritative witnesses,” Pope Benedict insisted. “We affirm it forcefully because, even in our own times, there is no lack of people who seek to deny its historical truth, reducing the Gospel narrative to a myth, thus repeating old worn-out theories as if they were new and scientific."
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» 04/15/2009 13:39
VATICAN

The Resurrection, an historical event that changes the world’s and everyone’s reality, says Pope

During the general audience people sing “Happy Birthday” to Benedict XVI on his 82nd birthday, celebrating also the anniversary of his pontificate which falls on 19 April. The truth of Easter is “the announcement that generations of men and women have welcomed and born witness to through the centuries, frequently at the cost of their own life.”

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – About 25,000 people were present in St Peter’s Square for today’s general audience. They sang “Happy Birthday” to Benedict XVI in several languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian and Italian) to mark his 82nd birthday—the Pontiff was in fact born in Marktl am Inn (Germany) on 16 April 1927—and the anniversary of his pontificate (19 April). Choirs sang to the sound of musical bands as Benedict XVI looked on, smiling.

In his address to the gathering the Holy Father spoke about the “overwhelming novelty” of Easter, the “spiritual bliss that no suffering or pain can erase” because based on the “certainty that Christ with his resurrection was the triumph of good over death and evil.” Novelty and bliss generate “a festive atmosphere that lasts for 50 days, until Pentecost, as the mystery of Easter embraces our entire existence” and is “so important that the Church never ceases proclaiming it, each Sunday, the weekly Easter of the people of God.”
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 12:29 PM