Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

Apparently, a recent article in a British newspaper (readable at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7665347/Pope-Francis-denied-bodily-resurrection-Christ-says-Italian-friend.html) contained a claim that, during a conversation with an Italian journalist friend, Pope Francis purportedly stated a belief that, after Christ's body was placed in the tomb following His crucifixion, His physical body disappeared, and that Christ came out of the tomb in the form of a spirit that preserved the "shadow" of Christ's physical appearance. (The Vatican is disputing the account of the pope's words as presented in the article.) 

I have never been a Roman Catholic, and I can't speak for the beliefs of each individual Catholic (including the Pope), but the resurrected Christ Himself attested to the fact that He had been raised in a bodily "flesh-and-bone" form (as evidenced by the ability to be touched and handled, as well as to consume food) in Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:24-29 (although His resurrected body was also capable of supernatural appearances and disappearances).

Also, both the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed (which were in use as statements of belief in Catholicism for hundreds of years prior to the advent of Protestantism) assert the fact of Jesus' resurrection.

(The journalist involved in the episode has apparently previously claimed that the pope also does not believe in hell or the divine nature of Jesus.)

June 12 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report