VATICAN Pope Benedict XVI delivers Easter Message: “men and women of today expect from Christians a renewed witness to the resurrection of Christ; they need to encounter Him and to know Him as true God and true man.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “My Lord and my God!” We too renew that profession of faith of Thomas. I have chosen these words for my Easter greetings this year, because the men and women of today expect from Christians a renewed witness to the resurrection of Christ; they need to encounter Him and to know Him as true God and true man.” With these words the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI addressed the people gathered in St Peter’s Square or connected by radio an television on Easter Sunday 8 April, in his Easter Message delivered from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. “If we can recognize in this Apostle the doubts and uncertainties of so many Christians today, the fears and disappointments of many of our contemporaries, with him we can also rediscover with renewed conviction, faith in Christ dead and risen for us. This faith, handed down through the centuries by the successors of the Apostles, continues on because the Risen Lord dies no more. He lives in the Church and guides it firmly towards the fulfilment of his eternal design of salvation” the Pope said.
On the day we celebrate “the great mystery, the foundation of Christian faith and hope”, Pope Benedict XVI described the sentiments of the women who went to the tomb “sadness and dismay at the death of their Lord”, whereas the Apostles’ faith in Jesus “had been submitted to a severe trial by the scandal of the cross. At his arrest, his condemnation and death, they were dispersed. Now they are together again, perplexed and bewildered. But the Risen One himself comes in response to their thirst for greater certainty. This encounter was not a dream or an illusion or a subjective imagination; it was a real experience, even if unexpected, and all the more striking for that reason”. The incredulity of Thomas, absent when the Risen Lord appears to the Apostles for the first time, “is most valuable to us in these cases because it helps to purify all false concepts of God and leads us to discover his true face: the face of a God who, in Christ, has taken upon himself the wounds of injured humanity. Thomas has received from the Lord, and has in turn transmitted to the Church, the gift of a faith put to the test by the passion and death of Jesus and confirmed by meeting him risen. His faith was almost dead but was born again thanks to his touching the wounds of Christ, those wounds that the Risen One did not hide but showed, and continues to point out to us in the trials and sufferings of every human being. “By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pt 2:24). This is the message Peter addressed to the early converts… These wounds that Christ has received for love of us help us to understand who God is and to repeat: “My Lord and my God!” Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith..”
Benedict XVI recalled the many wounds and suffering in the world today: “My thoughts go to recent events in Madagascar, in the Solomon Islands, in Latin America and in other regions of the world. I am thinking of the scourge of hunger, of incurable diseases, of terrorism and kidnapping of people, of the thousand faces of violence which some people attempt to justify in the name of religion, of contempt for life, of the violation of human rights and the exploitation of persons. I look with apprehension at the conditions prevailing in several regions of Africa. In Darfur and in the neighbouring countries there is a catastrophic, and sadly to say underestimated, humanitarian situation. In Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo the violence and looting of the past weeks raises fears for the future of the Congolese democratic process and the reconstruction of the country. In Somalia the renewed fighting has driven away the prospect of peace and worsened a regional crisis, especially with regard to the displacement of populations and the traffic of arms. Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis and for this reason the Bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and a shared commitment for the common good as the only way forward. Likewise the population of East Timor stands in need of reconciliation and peace as it prepares to hold important elections. Elsewhere too, peace is sorely needed: in Sri Lanka only a negotiated solution can put an end to the conflict that causes so much bloodshed; Afghanistan is marked by growing unrest and instability; In the Middle East, besides some signs of hope in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authority, nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees. In Lebanon the paralysis of the country’s political institutions threatens the role that the country is called to play in the Middle East and puts its future seriously in jeopardy. Finally, I cannot forget the difficulties faced daily by the Christian communities and the exodus of Christians from that blessed Land which is the cradle of our faith. I affectionately renew to these populations the expression of my spiritual closeness.”
Lastly the Pope recalled “by his rising the Lord has not taken suffering and evil away from the world instead He has vanquished them at their roots by the superabundance of his grace. He has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of his love. He has left us the love that does not fear death,”. Before expressing Easter greetings in 62 languages and giving his Orbi and Orbi blessing the Pope concluded: “Christ is risen and he is alive among us. It is he who is the hope of a better future.… United to him and ready to offer our lives for our brothers (cf. 1 Jn 3:16), let us become apostles of peace, messengers of a joy that does not fear pain - the joy of the Resurrection”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/4/2007 - righe 62, parole 959)