Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. After meditating on the eschatological goal of our existence, that is, eternal life, we now reflect on the journey that leads to it. To do this, we develop the perspective presented in the Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente: “The whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father, whose unconditional love for every human creature, and in particular for the ‘prodigal son’ (cf. Lk 15:11-32), we discover anew each day. This pilgrimage takes place in the heart of each person, extends to the believing community and then reaches to the whole of humanity” (n. 49).

In fact, what Christians will one day live to the full is already in some way anticipated today. Indeed, the Passover of the Lord inaugurates the life of the world to come.

2. The Old Testament prepares for the announcement of this truth through the complex theme of the Exodus. The journey of the chosen people to the promised land (cf. Ex 6:6) is like a magnificent icon of the Christian’s journey towards the Father's house. Obviously there is a fundamental difference: while in the ancient Exodus liberation was oriented to the possession of land, a temporary gift like all human realities, the new “Exodus” consists in the journey towards the Father’s house, with the definitive prospect of eternity that transcends human and cosmic history. The promised land of the Old Testament was lost de facto with the fall of the two kingdoms and the Babylonian Exile, after which the idea of returning developed like a new Exodus. However, this journey did not end in another geographical or political settlement, but opened itself to an “eschatological” vision that was henceforth a prelude to full revelation in Christ.  The universalistic images, which in the Book of Isaiah describe the journey of peoples and history towards a new Jerusalem, the centre of the world (cf. Is 56-66), in fact point in this direction.

3. The New Testament announces the fulfilment of this great expectation, holding up Christ as the Saviour of the world: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). In the light of this announcement, this life is already under the sign of salvation. It is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth, which culminates in the Passover but will have its full realization in the “parousia”, the final coming of Christ.

According to the Apostle Paul, this journey of salvation which links the past to the present, directing it to the future, is the fruit of God's plan, totally focused on the mystery of Christ. This is the “mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph 1:9-10; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1042f.).

In this divine plan, the present is the time of the “already and not yet”. It is the time of salvation already accomplished and the journey towards its full actualization: “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).

4. Growth towards this perfection in Christ, and  therefore growth towards the experience of the Trinitarian mystery, implies that the Passover will be fulfilled and fully celebrated only in the eschatological kingdom of God (cf. Lk 22:16). But the events of the Incarnation, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection already constitute the definitive revelation of God. The offer of redemption which this event implies is inscribed in the history of our human freedom, called to respond to the call of salvation.

Christian life is a participation in the paschal mystery, like the Way of the Cross and the Resurrection. It is a Way of the Cross, because our life is continually subject to the purification that leads to overcoming the old world marked by sin. It is a way of resurrection, because, in raising Christ, the Father conquered sin, so that for the believer the “justice of the Cross” becomes the “justice of God”, that is, the triumph of his truth and his love over the wickedness of the world.

5. In short, Christian life is growing towards the mystery of the eternal Passover. It therefore requires that we keep our gaze on the goal, the ultimate realities, but at the same time, that we strive for the “penultimate” realities: between these and the eschatological goal there is no opposition, but on the contrary  a mutually fruitful relationship. Although the primacy of the Eternal is always asserted, this does not prevent us from living historical realities righteously in the light of God (cf. CCC, n. 1048f.).

It is a matter of purifying every human activity and every earthly task, so that the Mystery of the Lord’s Passover will increasingly shine through them. As the Council in fact reminded us, human activity which is always marked by the sign of sin is purified and raised to perfection by the paschal mystery, so that “when we have spread on earth the fruits of our nature and our enterprise — human dignity, brotherly communion, and freedom — according to the command of the Lord and in his Spirit, we will find them once again, cleansed this time from the stain of sin, illuminated and transfigured, when Christ presents to his Father an eternal and universal kingdom” (Gaudium et spes, n. 39).

This eternal light illumines the life and the entire history of humanity on earth.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 11 August 1999]

Veneration of martyrdom

1. The memory of the martyrs has brought us here today to Otranto. We have come here out of veneration for martyrdom, upon which, from the beginning, the kingdom of God, proclaimed and initiated in human history by Jesus Christ, is built.

The truth about martyrdom has an eloquence in the Gospel that is full of penetrating depth and at the same time transparent simplicity. Christ does not promise his disciples earthly success or material prosperity; he does not present any 'utopia' before their eyes, as has happened more than once and as always happens in the history of human ideologies. He simply tells his disciples: 'they will persecute you'. They will hand you over to the various authorities, they will put you in prison, they will summon you before various courts. All this 'because of my name' (Lk 21:12).

The essence of martyrdom has been linked to this name from the beginning and throughout the centuries! We call those Christians martyrs who, throughout history, have suffered, often terrifying, cruelties 'in odium fidei'. Those who were ultimately put to death 'in odium fidei'. Therefore, those who, by accepting suffering and death in this world, have given special witness to Christ.

Putting before his disciples the image of the sufferings that await them because of his name, the Master says: "This will give you an opportunity to bear witness" (Lk 21:13).

2. Five hundred years ago here in Otranto, 800 disciples of Christ bore such witness, accepting death for the name of Christ. The words that the Lord Jesus spoke about martyrdom refer to them: "You will be hated by all for my name's sake" (Lk 21:17). Yes, they were hated. They drank the cup of this hatred to the dregs for the sake of Christ, in imitation of their Master, who went directly from the Passover supper to Gethsemane and prayed there: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me” (Lk 22:42). However, the cup of human hatred, cruelty and the cross was not taken away. Christ, obedient to the Father, drank it to the dregs: “Not my will, but yours be done” (Lk 22:42).

The testimony of Gethsemane and the cross is a definitive seal, imprinted on everything Jesus did and taught. By accepting death, he gave his life for the salvation of the world. The martyrs of Otranto, by accepting death, gave their lives for Christ. In this way, they bore special witness to Christ.

The witness of the martyrs also introduces them in a special way into his Paschal mystery. "By your perseverance," says Jesus, "you will save your souls" (Lk 21:19). Just as he himself conquered new life by accepting death, so the martyrs, by accepting death, conquer the life that Christ began in his resurrection.

3. "That" life: the new and full life refutes, in a certain sense, the experience of death. Above all, it refutes the certainty of those who, by inflicting death, believed they had taken the lives of the martyrs, deprived them of life and torn them definitively from the land of the living.

"In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to die; / their end was considered a misfortune, / their departure from us a ruin."

So proclaimed the author of the Book of Wisdom (Wis 3:2-3) long before Christ spoke his words on martyrdom.

"... but they are at peace" (Wis 3:3). But they are at peace!

In the act of martyrdom, therefore, there takes place a radical, so to speak, contrast between the criteria and the very foundations of thinking. The human death of the martyrs, death linked to suffering and torment - like the death of Christ on the cross - yields, in a certain sense, to another higher reality. The author of the Book of Wisdom writes: "The souls of the righteous... are in the hands of God / no torment shall touch them" (Wisdom 3:1).

This other, higher reality does not negate the fact of torment and death, just as it did not negate the fact of Christ's passion and death. It, the invisible "hand" of God, only transforms this human fact. It transforms it even in its earthly context, through the power of faith that is revealed in the souls of martyrs in the face of torment and suffering: "Even though they suffer punishment in the eyes of men, their hope is full of immortality" (Wisdom 3:4).

The power of this faith and the power of hope that comes from God are more powerful than punishment and death itself. The martyrs bear witness to Christ precisely because of this power of faith and hope. In fact, similar to Him in passion and death, they simultaneously proclaim the power of His resurrection. It suffices to recall here how the first martyr of Christ, the deacon Stephen, died; he died crying out: "Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56).

Thus, thanks to the strength of faith and the power of hope, the proportions change in a certain sense: the proportions of life and death, defeat and victory, dispossession and elevation. The author of the Book of Wisdom later writes: "In exchange for a brief punishment, they will receive great benefits, because God has tested them and found them worthy of himself" (Wisdom 3:5).

4. Here we touch on a particularly important point in the fact of martyrdom. Martyrdom is a great trial, in a certain sense it is the definitive and radical trial. It is the greatest trial of man, the trial of man's dignity in the presence of God himself. It is difficult to say more about this than what the Book of Wisdom itself states: "God tested them and found them worthy of himself" (Wis 3:5). There is no greater measure of human dignity than that found in God himself: in the eyes of God. Martyrdom is therefore "the" test of man that takes place in the eyes of God, a test in which man, aided by the power of God, is victorious.

Throughout history, numerous confessors and disciples of Christ have undergone this test. The martyrs of Otranto underwent this test five hundred years ago. The martyrs of our century have undergone and continue to undergo this test, martyrs who are often unknown or little known, even though they are not far from us.

And so, in today's circumstances, I cannot help but turn my gaze across the sea to the not-so-distant heroic Church in Albania, shaken by harsh and prolonged persecution but enriched by the witness of its martyrs: bishops, priests, religious men and women, and ordinary faithful.

In addition to them, my thoughts also go to our other Christian brothers and sisters and to all believers in God who suffer a similar fate of deprivation in that nation.

Being spiritually close to all those who suffer violence because of their faith is a special duty of all Christians, according to the tradition inherited from the early centuries. I would say more: this is also a matter of solidarity owed to people and communities whose fundamental rights are violated or even totally trampled upon. We must pray that the Lord will sustain our brothers and sisters with his grace in such difficult trials. And we also want to pray for those who persecute them, repeating Christ's invocation on the cross, addressed to the Father: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Very often, attempts are made to label martyrs as "guilty of political crimes". Christ himself was condemned to death apparently for this reason: because he claimed to be king (cf. Lk 23:2). Let us not forget, therefore, the martyrs of our own time. Let us not behave as if they did not exist. Let us thank God that they have victoriously overcome the trial. Let us implore the power of the Holy Spirit for those who are persecuted and still have to face such a trial. May the words of the Master be fulfilled in them: "I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict" (Lk 21:15).

Let us remain in communion with the martyrs. They dig the deepest bed of the divine river in history.

They build the most solid foundations of that divine city that rises towards eternity.

The author of the book of Wisdom proclaims: "(God) tested them like gold in the crucible and accepted them as a burnt offering" (Wisdom 3:6).

5. In the Church on earth, the memory and veneration of the holy martyrs remains, as here in Otranto, and in so many other places in Italy, Europe and the world. In the kingdom of God, together with Christ, they receive a special strength and power in the mystery of the communion of saints and in the whole divine economy of truth and love.

“They will rule the nations, they will have power over the peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever.

Those who trust in him will understand the truth; those who are faithful to him will live with him in love, for grace and mercy are reserved for his chosen ones” (Wis 3:8-9).

The martyrs, before the majesty of divine justice, could cry out as we read in Revelation: “How long, O holy and true Sovereign, will you not do justice and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” (Rev 6:10). However, in the eternal light of the Most Holy Trinity, united in supreme truth and perfect love, they become spokespeople of grace and mercy for their brothers and sisters on earth. Indeed, they become so even for their own persecutors. Above all, they become so for the Church, which according to God's merciful plans must be the "divine city" raised up among the peoples, must be: "in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very close union with God and of the unity of the whole human race" (Lumen Gentium, 1).

It is therefore this very Church, gathered today in Otranto at the great tomb of the martyrs, that wishes, in the spirit of its mission, to raise its prayer to God through them. In this prayer, we place first the problems that we today, from this great tomb of the martyrs of Otranto, after 500 years, see in a new way and with new clarity, in the perspective of the cross of Christ and the mission of the Church.

6. The Second Vatican Council, which affirmed that "the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very close union with God and of the unity of the whole human race" (Lumen Gentium, 1), also expressed its attitude consistent with this profession towards those events which, in the past, have set Muslims and Christians against each other as enemies: “If, in the course of the centuries, many disputes and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Muslims, this sacred Council urges all to forget the past and to practise sincere mutual understanding and to promote together moral welfare, peace and liberty” (Nostra Aetate, 3).

For us, these words are of decisive importance. I have already had occasion to speak in this same spirit on more than one occasion: in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, during my visit to that country last year, and also in Nairobi, Accra, Ouagadougou and Abidjan during my recent trip to Africa.

Today, at the glorious tombs of the martyrs of Otranto, I invoke the intercession of those whose “souls are in God’s hands”, and, together with the whole Church, I raise a fervent prayer that the words of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council may become ever more a reality.

At this moment, a deferential and cordial thought goes to the Church in Byzantium, which had historical links with the local Church of Otranto.

From this ancient land of Puglia, stretching out like a bridgehead towards the East, we look with attention and sympathy to the regions of the East, and particularly to the places where the three great monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, had their historical origins. We remember what the Council says about 'that people to whom the Testaments and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh (cf. Rom 9:4-5); a people, by virtue of their election, beloved because of their fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (cf. Rom 11:28-29)'. And later, on the same page of the Second Vatican Council, we read: "But the plan of salvation also embraces those who acknowledge the Creator, and among these, in particular, the Muslims, who profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and who, like us, worship the one, merciful God, who will judge mankind on the last day" (Lumen Gentium, 16).

At the same time, we cannot close our eyes to the particularly delicate situations that have arisen there and still persist. Severe conflicts have broken out; the Middle East region is rife with tensions and disputes, with the ever-present risk of new wars breaking out. It is painful to note that the clashes have often followed the lines of division between different religious groups, so that it has been possible for some, unfortunately, to fuel them artificially by playing on religious sentiment.

The terms of the Middle Eastern drama are well known: the Jewish people, after tragic experiences linked to the extermination of so many sons and daughters, driven by a desire for security, gave birth to the State of Israel; at the same time, the painful situation of the Palestinian people was created, a large part of whom were excluded from their land. These are facts that are plain for all to see. Other countries, such as Lebanon, are suffering from a crisis that threatens to become chronic. Finally, in recent days, a bitter conflict has been raging in a neighbouring region, between Iraq and Iran.

Gathered here today, at the tombs of the martyrs of Otranto, we meditate on the words of the liturgy that proclaim their glory and power in the kingdom of God: "They will rule the nations, they will have power over the peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever." Therefore, in union with these martyrs, we present to the one God, the living God, the Father of all men, the problems of peace in the Middle East and also the problem, so dear to us, of rapprochement and true dialogue with those whom we are united - despite our differences - by faith in one God, the faith inherited from Abraham. May the spirit of unity, mutual respect and understanding prove more powerful than that which divides and opposes.

Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia have for millennia nourished the roots of traditions sacred to each of the three religious groups; there, for centuries, Christian, Jewish and Islamic communities have coexisted on the same territories; in those regions, the Catholic Church boasts communities distinguished by their ancient history, vitality, variety of rites and spiritual characteristics.

Towering high above this world, like an ideal centre, a precious treasure chest that guards the treasures of the most venerable memories, and is itself the first of these treasures, is the holy city, Jerusalem, today the subject of a dispute that seems to have no solution, tomorrow - if we so desire! - tomorrow a crossroads of reconciliation and peace.

Yes, we pray that Jerusalem, instead of being, as it is today, an object of contention and division, may become the meeting point towards which the eyes of Christians, Jews and Muslims will continue to turn, as towards their common home; around which they will feel themselves to be brothers, none superior, none indebted to others; towards which pilgrims, followers of Christ, or faithful to the Mosaic law, or members of the Islamic community will return to direct their steps.

7. And now our thoughts turn once again to the liturgy of the martyrs. We look with the eyes of the author of Revelation and see in the great cemetery of Otranto and, at the same time, in the perspective of eternal Jerusalem... we see: 'under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had given... Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers was complete" (Rev 6:9, 11).

[Pope John Paul II, homily, Otranto, 5 October 1980]