“The true cure for death must be different,” the Holy Father proposed. “It cannot lead simply to an indefinite prolongation of this current life. It would have to transform our lives from within. It would need to create a new life within us, truly fit for eternity: it would need to transform us in such a way as not to come to an end with death, but only then to begin in fullness.”

The Pontiff said that the “new and exciting” of the Christian message is the affirmation that this “cure for death, this true medicine of immortality, does exist.” “It has been found,” he assured. “It is within our reach. In baptism, this medicine is given to us.”

“A new life begins in us,” Benedict XVI told the faithful and the newly baptized, “a life that matures in faith and is not extinguished by the death of the old life, but is only then fully revealed.”