"You, you don’t be afraid!". The words of the angel of resurrection, said to the women at the empty sepulchre, "have become a sort of slogan on the lips of Pope John Paul II, since the solemn beginning of his Peter’s ministry". It was recalled today by Benedict XVI at Mass, three years after the death of his predecessor: "He repeated them on several occasions to the Church and to mankind en route to 2000 and than through that epoch-making target and beyond, at the dawn of the third millennium", said the Pope: "He always uttered them with unbending determination, first by brandishing the pastoral rod with the Cross on top and then, when his physical energy was dieing out, as if clinging on to it, up to that Last Holy Friday, when he took part in the Way of the Cross from his Private Chapel, holding the Cross in his arms". "We cannot forget that last and silent testimony of his love to Jesus", exclaimed the Pontiff, according to whom "even that telling scene of human suffering and faith, on that last Holy Friday, pointed out to the believers and to the world the secret of all Christian life".
