Vatican City, Jan 10, 2006 / 22:00 pm
In his weekly audience given earlier today at the Vatican, Pope Benedict reminded some 8,000 listeners that the victory of Christ was not political or warlike, but rather an “intervention of freedom against evil.”
The Holy Father continued his ongoing catechesis on the Psalms today, this time speaking about the first part of Psalm 143, which he called "The king's prayer for victory and peace."
Calling on his audience to bear in mind the historical context in which the Psalm was written, Pope Benedict said that it was clear "that the king who appears no longer has the profile of a Davidic sovereign.”
Noting that “the Hebrew royal line had ended with the Babylonian exile of the sixth century BC…he represents the luminous and glorious figure of the Messiah, whose victory is no longer warlike and political but an intervention of freedom against evil."