During the general audience in the Paul IV Hall on 6 December, the Holy Father continued his reflections on the mystery of Pentecost and spoke about the reception of the pagans into the Church.

1.The descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost brought Christ's paschal mystery to its fulfilment with his "departure" through the sacrifice of the Cross, and completed God's revelation of himself through his Incarnate Son. In this way "there is accomplished in its entirety the mission of the Messiah, that is to say of the One who has received the fullness of the Holy Spirit for the Chosen People of God and for the whole of humanity. ‘Messiah’ literally means ‘Christ’, that is, ‘Anointed One’, and in the history of salvation it means ‘the one anointed with the Holy Spirit’. This was the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament. Following this tradition, Simon Peter will say in the house of Cornelius: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea... after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power’ (Acts 10:37 f.)" (Encyclical Dominum et Vivif icantem, n.15). Peter continues with a brief summary of the Gospel story, which is also a rudimentary Creed, bearing witness to Christ crucified and risen, Redeemer and Saviour of mankind, in the way of "all the prophets" (Acts 10:43).

A great moment in salvation history

2. If, on the one hand, Peter connects the descent of the Holy Spirit with the Old Testament tradition, on the other, he knows and proclaims that on the day of Pentecost there was the beginning of a new process which will last down the centuries, bringing to complete fulfilment the history of salvation. The first stages of this process are described in the Acts of the Apostles. Peter himself was involved in a decisive moment of that process: the entrance of the first Pagan into the Church, under the evident influence of the Holy Spirit who guides the action of the apostles. It was the case of the Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea. Peter, who had introduced him into the community of the baptized, was aware of the decisive importance of that act which was undoubtedly not in conformity with the existing religious practices, but at the same time he knew with certainty that God had willed it. In fact, on entering the centurion's house he "found many persons gathered; and he said to them, ‘You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit any one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (Acts 10:28).

It was a great moment in the history of salvation. By that decision Peter made the primitive Church leave the ethnic-religious confines of Jerusalem and Judaism, and he became the instrument of the Holy Spirit in launching it towards "all peoples", according to Christ's command (cf. Mt 28:19). Thus was fulfilled in a complete and higher way the prophetic tradition on the universality of God’s kingdom in the world, far beyond the view of the Israelites attached to the Old Law. Peter had opened the way of the New Law, in which the Gospel of salvation should reach all people without any distinction of nation, culture or religion, so that all might enjoy the fruits of Redemption.

3. The Acts of the Apostles contain a detailed account of this event. In the first part we are informed of the interior process which made Peter aware of the step to be taken. We read that Peter, who was lodging for some days at the house of "Simon, a tanner" (Acts 10:6) at Joppa, "went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and desired something to eat; but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heaven opened, and something descending, like a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And then came a voice to him, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat’. But Peter said, ‘No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean’. And the voice came to him again a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, you must not call common". This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven" (Acts 10:9-16).

It was a vision which perhaps brought to the surface questions and uncertainties which had been fermenting in Peter’s mind under the influence of the Holy Spirit in light of the experience gained during his early preaching and linked to the recollection of Christ’s teaching and command about universal evangelization. It was a pause for reflection on that roof terrace at Joppa, opening on to the Mediterrancan, which prepared Peter for the decisive step he had to take!

4. Indeed, " Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision he had seen might mean" (Acts 10:17). Then while he "was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down, and accompany them without hesitation: for I have sent them’ " (Acts 10:19-20). It is the Holy Spirit, therefore, whoprepares Peter for the new task. He works especially through the vision, whereby he urges Peter to reflection, arranges the meeting with the three men—two servants and a devout solider (Acts 10:7)—sent from Caesarea to seek and invite him. When the interior process was accomplished the Spirit gives Peter an explicit order. Obeying it, Peter decides togo to Caesarea to the house of Cornelius. He is received by the centurion and the members of his household with the respect due to a divine messenger. Peter recalls his vision and asks those present: "Why have you sent for me?" (Acts 10:29).

Cornelius, "an upright and God-fearing man" (Acts 10 22), explains how he got the idea of inviting him, an invitation also due to divine inspiration. And he concludes, saying: " Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God, to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord’ (Acts 10:33).

5. Peter’s reply, recorded in Acts, is full of theological and missionary significance. We read: "Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), the word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John had preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses to all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he is the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name’ " (Acts 10:34-43).

6. It was well to quote this text in full, for it is a further condensation of the apostolic preaching and a first synthesis of catechesis which would later receive definitive form in the Creed. They are the preaching and catechesis of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, repeated at Caesarea in the house of the pagan Cornelius, where there is renewed the event of the Upper Room in what may be called the Pentecost of the pagans, similar to that of Jerusalem, as Peter himself observes (cf. Acts 10:47; 1l: 15; 15:8). In fact, we read that while "Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles" (Acts 10:44-45).

Salvific value of the sacrifice extends to all mankind

7. "Then Peter declared, ‘Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ " (Acts 10:47).

He said this before "the believers from among the circumcised", that is to say, the converts from Judaism, who were amazed because they heard Cornelius’s relatives and friends "speaking in tongues and extolling God" (cf. Acts 10:46), just as had happened at Jerusalem on thedayof the first Pentecost. It was an analogy of events full of significance; indeed, it was as if it were the same event, a single Pentecost verified in different circumstances.

The conclusion is the same: Peter "commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 10:48). We have, then, the baptism of the first pagans. By his apostolic authority and guided by the light of the Holy Spirit, Peter thus began the streamline of the Gospel and the extension of the Church beyond the frontiers of Israel.

8. The Holy Spirit, who descended on the apostles by virtue of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, has now confirmed that the salvific value of this sacrifice extends to all mankind. Peter had heard the interior voice saying: "What God has cleansed, you must not call common" (Acts 10:15). He knew very well that the cleansing had taken place by means of the blood of Christ, Son of God, who, as we read in the Letter to the Hebrews (9:14), "through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God", so that we are assured that that blood "will purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God". Peter had come to understand better that the new times had arrived when, as the prophets had foretold, even the sacrifices of the pagans would be pleasing to Yahweh (cf. Is 56:7; Mal 1:11; and also Rom 15:16; Phil 4:18; 1 Pet 2: 5). Therefore he said with full awareness to the centurion Cornelius: "Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality", as Israel had already learned from Deuteronomy, echoed in Peter’s words: "The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God who is not partial... (Deut 10:17). The Acts testify that Peter was the first to grasp the new sense of that old idea which was incorporated into the apostles’ teaching (cf. 1 Pet 1:17; Gal 2:6; ROM 2:11).

Such is the interior genesis of those beautiful words spoken to Cornelius on the human relationship with God: "...in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:35).