The Event on which the Church stands or falls

It is the resurrection of Jesus. "We will hear you on this matter some other time," the intellectuals of Athens said to Paul, leaving him by himself. But Benedict XVI is determined, and is reissuing the proclamation "urbi et orbi." He has done so twice in four days. And he has explained why: Sandro Magister, "The Event of Easter on which the Church Stands or Falls" (www.chiesa.espressonline.it, April 17, 2009):

Benedict XVI insisted on the fact that the resurrection of Jesus "is not a theory, but a historical reality, it is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event."

And again:

"We assert this forcefully because, even in our own time, there is no shortage of those who seek to deny its historicity, reducing the Gospel account to a myth, to a vision of the Apostles, revisiting and presenting old worn-out theories as new and scientific."

Sandro Magister carries both the Holy Father's Message for Easter Sunday: "The resurrection of Christ is our hope" and Easter Wednesday catechesis: "He rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures"