VATICAN - Pope Benedict XVI invokes the intercession of St John the Baptist “that also in our day the Church may remain faithful to Christ and bear witness with courage to His truth and His love for all ”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - To commemorate the birth of John the Baptist “means in actual fact, to celebrate Christ, the fulfilment of the promises of all the prophets of whom the greatest was the Baptist called to "prepare the way" for the Messiah”. With these words before the Angelus prayer on Sunday 24 June the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI recalled the feast day of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.
The Pontiff underlined that “all four Gospels begin the narration of Jesus' public life with the event of his baptism by John in the River Jordan”. People flocked to listen to John the Baptist and to receive his baptism. His fame was so great that some wondered if he was perhaps the Messiah. As St John the evangelist underlines, the Baptist denied this firmly: "I am not the Christ" (Jn 1,20). “However - the Holy Father said - John was the first to bear ‘witness’ to Jesus, who had been indicated to him from Heaven… This happened when Jesus had received his baptism and was coming up from the water: John saw the Spirit descend upon him in the form of a dove. It was then that he ‘knew’ the full reality of Jesus of Nazareth, and he began to make him ‘known to Israel’ (Jn 1,31), presenting him as the Son of God and the Redeemer of mankind”.
“An authentic prophet, John bore witness to the truth without compromise,- the Pope continued -. He denounced transgressions of God's commandments, even when the transgressors were powerful. Thus when he accused Herod and Herodiade of adultery, he paid with his life, sealing with his blood his service to Christ, who is the Truth in person. We invoke his intercession, together with that of Mary Most Holy, that in our own time the Church may know how to remain faithful to Christ and to bear courageous witness to His truth and His love for everyone”.
After the Angelus, the Pope greeted various groups in different languages and then mentioned the Feast Day of Peter and Paul on 29 June expressing his gratitude for the universal collection of Peter's Pence taken on that day to support the Pope's charitable work. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 25/6/2007; righe 25, parole 372)