Archbishop Forte assaults on Discovery Channel’s documentary film "Tomb of Jesus"
(02 March 2007) : James Cameron’s documentary “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” is really
just an attempt to put into question Christ’s resurrection.” The Theologian Archbishop
Bruno Forte, a member of the International Theological Commission, made these comments
regarding Discovery Channel’s 90 minute documentary film, scheduled to broadcast this
Sunday.
The documentary claims that Jesus' burial site has been found and
suggests that Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had a son. Archbishop Forte,
the president of the Italian episcopal conference's Commission for the Doctrine of
the Faith, said: "In fact there is talk of ancient tombs, some from the first century,
discovered in the neighbourhood of Talpiot, at the beginning of the 1980s, on which
are engraved some names, such as those of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Matthew. This is the
factual data. However, there are many such tombs in the territory of the Holy Land.
Hence, there is nothing new in this revelation.
In fact, the thesis launched
is that if Jesus is buried there with his family, then the resurrection would be no
more than an invention of his disciples," he noted. The archbishop continued: "However,
the factual event of Jesus' resurrection is rigorously documented in the New Testament
by the five accounts of the apparitions: four of the Gospels and St. Paul's. All critical
studies in these two centuries have shown that in the profound truth of the accounts
of the apparitions there is non-debatable historicity," the prelate said.