THE MESSIAH was definitely born of the Virgin Mary but years earlier than what the Christian calendar had set, and was not surrounded by animals in a manger in Bethlehem.
A few weeks before Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI clarified a number of popular Christmas traditions and at the same time confirmed historical truths regarding Jesus Christ’s birth, in the third and last installment of his book series, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives.
The Holy Father noted that the historical date of Jesus’ birth fell around 4 B.C., King Herod’s death, as the population census that led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was called during that time.
“The starting-point for our reckoning of time—the calculation of Jesus’ date of birth—goes back to the monk Dionysius Exiguus (c. 550), who evidently miscalculated by a few years,” the Pope stated in his book.
Though the book is complete with historical criticism and a theological framework, it did not adopt a scholarly, dull tone that is often the first impression on theological papers.
On whether the virgin birth is historical truth, the Pope wrote: “The answer is an unequivocal yes.”
The virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus were described as “scandals to the modern spirit” as God had intervened directly in the physical world.
“In that sense, these two moments—the virgin birth and the real resurrection from the tomb—are the cornerstones of faith. If God does not also have power over matter, then He simply is not God,” the Pope added.
The Vatican said the book was published with an initial run of one million copies worldwide. It has been translated into 20 languages, and is expected to be an international bestseller in the footsteps of the first two books: Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, which covered Jesus Christ’s public ministry, passion, death, and resurrection.
Pope Benedict explained the universality of Jesus’ mission using the accounts of his childhood from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which includes scenes of the Joyful mysteries of the Holy Rosary —from the Annunciation to the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple.
The book earned criticism from the online community, which called the Pope the “Grinch” who stole Christmas. Headlines from different news websites included: “Killjoy pope crushes Christmas nativity traditions” and “Pope bans Christmas.”
However, Zenit, an international Catholic news agency, called the book “one of the Pope’s finest gifts to the Church,” describing the installment as a “meditation for Advent.”
Fr. Robert Dodaro, professor of patristics or the study of early Church writings at Rome’s Patristic Institute, said in Reuters’ online report last Nov. 28 that the Pope was trying to be as historical as possible.
“He wants to see the biblical narratives as history where possible, but he is also trying to explain details in the narratives that cannot be historically verified,” Dodaro said.
No animals in nativity scene
Citing the Gospel accounts, Pope Benedict said there was no reference to animals present in the birth of Christ. Setting up the nativity scene with the inclusion of animals as part of Christmas decorations is a popular tradition, however.
The Pope cited verses from the Old Testament: “The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master’s crib” (Isaiah 1:3) and “In the midst of the two beasts wilt thou be known” (Habakkuk 3:2).”
“Christian iconography adopted this motif at an early stage. No representation of the crib is complete without the ox and the ass,” the Pope said, not entirely dismissing the tradition.
The Holy Father said that according to the Gospel of Luke, the angels did not sing, but greeted the shepherds with good news.
“Christianity has always understood that the speech of angels is actually a song, in which all the glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present,” Pope Benedict wrote.
“It is only natural that simple believers would then hear the shepherds singing too, and to this day, they join in their carolling on the Holy Night, proclaiming in song the great joy that, from then until the end of time, is bestowed on all people,” he said.
The Pope also said it was correctly deduced that Christ was born in an “inhospitable” space—a stable.
He said: “In the area around Bethlehem, rocky caves had been used as stables since ancient times. As early as Justin Martyr and Origen, we find the tradition that Jesus was born in a cave, which Christians in Palestine could point to.”
He added that the Gospels’ aim was not to produce an exhaustive account, but a record of the important facts for the faithful community.
“What Matthew and Luke set out to do, each in his own way was not to tell ‘stories’ but to write history, real history that had actually happened, admittedly interpreted and understood in the context of the Word of God,” Pope Benedict said. “The infancy narratives are interpreted with history, condensed and written down in accordance with interpretation.”
