"The Cross, because of all that it stands for and also because of the theological message it contains, is outrage and foolishness", but at the same time it is "the ‘core of the core’ of the Christian mystery". In the catechesis for this morning’s general audience, focussed once again on the figure of Saint Paul, Benedict XVI explained that, after having been a persecutor of Christians, Paul "joined the side of the Crucified Christ, making Him his raison for existence and the motivation of his preaching". The Cross had revealed "God’s free and merciful love", which "Paul mostly experienced in himself", as he realised that "salvation is ‘grace’, that everything comes from Christ’s death, not from our deeds". Therefore, went on the Pope, the "Gospel of grace" became for him "the only way to understand the Cross", the criterion "of his new life" and "the answer to his interlocutors". For Saint Paul, the Cross "is the focus of his theology, because Cross is synonym with salvation, as a grace for every creature". Hence, according to Benedict XVI, his introducing himself "not with sublime speech or wisdom, but with the announcement of Christ and the Cross" at the Church of Corinth, "where scandals and riots were worryingly going on, where communion was threatened by parties and internal divisions" which marred its unity. (continued)
