"The relationships between Saint Paul and the Apostles who had preceded him in following Jesus commented the Pope were always marked by a deep respect and by that honesty that Paul drew from defending the truth of the Gospel". "A contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth", Saint Paul "never had the opportunity to meet Him during his public life". "Particularly significant", according to the Pope, is the meeting with Peter in Jerusalem: Paul stays with him 15 days to "consult him", in other words "to learn about the earthly life of the Resurrected that was deeply changing his life: from being a persecutor of the Church of God he had become an evangeliser of that faith in the Crucified Messiah and the Son of God whom in the past he had tried to destroy". Especially the words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper, said the Pope, "would become the beating heart of His Gospel": they "have a great impact on Paul’s relationship with Jesus Christ, because on one side they are evidence that the Eucharist sheds light on the curse of the Cross, turning it into a blessing, and on the other side they explain the extent of the death and resurrection of Jesus". From the topic of "giving oneself up", according to the Pope, "Paul would draw the most riveting and fascinating expressions of our relationship with Christ", also commented by the then Augustinian monk Martin Luther.
