Associated Press
Rome, Apr 14: Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday recounted the Biblical betrayal of Jesus by Judas, calling the apostle a double-crosser for whom "money was more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love."
Benedict's traditional depiction of Judas came during his Holy Thursday homily, a week after the release of an ancient Egyptian Coptic text dubbed the ‘Gospel of Judas,’ in which Judas is portrayed not as Christ’s betrayer but as his confidant who was doing his will by handing him over to his enemies to be crucified.
Holy Thursday marks the start of a series of solemn ceremonies in the Catholic Church in which the faithful relive Christ’s suffering, crucifixion and death — and then his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
During the service, the Pope humbly washed the feet of 12 men, re-enacting Christ’s washing of his apostles' feet during the Last Supper and saying the act cleansed the "filth" of mankind.
In his homily, Benedict said Jesus washed his disciples' feet to purify them so they could join him at the Last Supper, the meal which the faithful believe Jesus shared with his apostles before he was betrayed by his apostle Judas and crucified.
Benedict's homily adhered to the traditional portrayal of Judas as betraying Jesus.
The ‘Gospel of Judas’ tells a far different tale from the four gospels in the New Testament. It portrays Judas as a favored disciple who was given special knowledge by Jesus — and turned him in at Christ’s request. It portrays Judas as being told spiritual secrets that the other apostles were not.
The Egyptian Coptic text, one of several ancient documents found in the Egyptian desert in 1970, was preserved and translated by a team of scholars. The text was made public last week.
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