Vatican City, Apr 13, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Today, Benedict XVI presided over the celebration of the office of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the veneration of the Cross at Saint Peter’s Basilica. The predication for the office was given by the official preacher of the Pontifical household, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.
Fr. Cantalamessa first started his predication by making explicit reference to the recent attacks to the authenticity of the passion of Christ in the past months and days: "As we celebrate today the memory of the passion and death of Our Savior, millions of people are driven by skilful reshuffles of old legends to make them believe that Jesus of Nazareth was never really crucified,” referring to the false Gospel of Thomas.
“We talk a lot these days on the betrayal of Judas and we don’t realize that these apocryphal gospels on which these thesis are based are well-known texts, on which no historian, even the most critical and hostile to the Church would consider basing a story. We can not allow that the faith of the believers be so coarsely manipulated by the media without raising a voice of protest,” He said.
Subsequently, Fr. Cantalamessa delivered a vivid teaching on the passion as a sign of God’s Love: “God’s love is Light, happiness and fullness of life(..) Were it springs, it heals and brings life, It is the water promised to the Samaritan that extinguishes all thirsts.