Is it possible to find any relationship between Pope Benedict XVI –or his Pontificate and historic moment—and the motto, of the glory of the olive tree, which the Prophecy attributes to him?

            The answer, as anyone can see, does not seem easy. There will even be some people who will feel compelled to think that no such relationship exists.

            It should be taken into account, however, that the prophetical genre is ambiguous and arcane by nature. Therefore, even an affirmative answer –if there is any—cannot be regarded as absolutely certain. Should someone believe that he has actually found the said relationship, that person could never pretend that his discovery is definitive and final.

            It is also important to point out that any prophecy, when it is authentic, belongs by nature to the supernatural order. Therefore, it would be futile to attempt to unravel it through purely natural means. But this is not an obstacle to using some of them, namely study and serious historical investigation, which can become not only useful but also necessary– although never totally sufficient –  for our case at hand and, based on the reasons given above, not even the most important ones for the study that we will try to accomplish.

            And given the fact that we are moving here within the supernatural realm, we must add that prayer is also needed, which restricts even more not so much the field and the possibilities of this investigation but its potential outcome, for not everybody practices prayer nor do people generally have faith in its effectiveness.

            And since this Prophecy –let us begin with the hypothesis of granting it a prophetical character—refers indirectly to Jesus Christ and more directly to the outpost of His Kingdom on Earth, the Church, it seems most appropriate and logical to go to the Gospels in the hope of finding in them some key which could provide clues to our investigation.

            If one examines the motto carefully, he will notice that there are two nouns which, since they are in the same sentence, must be closely related. One of them –olive tree—seems to play the leading role in the declaration, for our attention is immediately drawn to it; the second –glory—rather performs the role of qualifying the former. In other words, it is as if the motto would be saying: the olive tree shines in its glory.

            The only place in the Gospels where a mention of the olive tree is made is the transcendental passage of the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of the Olive Trees (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22). Some people speak of the Garden or of the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the base of the Mount of Olives. At any rate, there is no doubt that the historic event we are referring to, which was crucial to the History of Mankind, took place at the Mount of Olives.

            The events that happened there, right after the Celebration of the Last Supper of Our Lord with His Disciples on the Night before His Passion, are well known; although they have never been sufficiently studied in depth. We will try here to outline a summary of them, to draw on their consequences later.

            The Garden of Olives represents the zenith, or climax, of the human failure of Jesus Christ. The place in which the countless miseries of all Mankind concentrated on His Person, causing in Him a paroxysm impossible to be grasped by the human understanding and which led Him into such a deep anguish that  it resulted in His spontaneous shedding of blood through the pores of His Body; as the Gospels clearly testify.

            The place that witnessed such distress and suffering as are impossible to be described by the human language or understood by the human intellect, that place is the same one which witnessed the –apparent?—definitive triumph of Evil over God.

            The initial scene of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of the Christ, reflects –to the extent that it is possible—this reality with acceptable seriousness. On that historic Night, the Olive Trees of the Garden witnessed what, from any point of view, seemed to signify the Final Victory of Satan over the Son of God made Man. In this sense, talking about the glory of the olive tree cannot be taken but as something respectful and serious.

            Was it the Supreme Triumph of Evil over Faith? Over the loving Plan of God for Men? In that Night at least, everything seemed to indicate an affirmative answer. That is why what we are going to say now about the historical milieu of this Pontificate is not going to be pleasant for many people and will indeed be disturbing for all.