Does Pope Francis believe in the Rapture?

Yesterday Pope Francis preached one of the most extraordinary sermons ever delivered by a pope, one that demonstrates the laziness of those commentators who think he is a typical Latin American liberal. It put centre stage a teaching of the Church that I’ve never heard discussed in a Catholic homily: the physical resurrection of all saved Christians at the Apocalypse.

The Pope told the early-morning congregation in his hostel that Catholics are afraid to contemplate the doctrine – of overwhelming importance to the early Christians – that their bodies (however physically destroyed on earth) will rise from the dead:

This is the future that awaits us and this is the fact that brings us to pose so much resistance: resistance to the transformation of our bodies. Also – resistance to Christian identity. I’ll say more: perhaps we are not so much afraid of the Apocalypse of the Evil One, of the Antichrist who must come first – perhaps we are not so afraid [of him].