Comedian writes front-page Gospel commentary for L’Osservatore Romano

June 25, 2025

An Italian comedian, Giacomo Poretti, has written a commentary for the Vatican newspaper on next Sunday’s Gospel reading at Mass (Matthew 16:13-19), in which Christ asks, “But who do you say that I am?”

In “La risposta alla Domanda,” Poretti said, “It’s a good thing I wasn’t there when this question was asked to the disciples; I would have hidden behind the tallest one or shouted ‘Last to answer!’ in an attempt to arouse some sympathy in the man who had asked the question.”

“The problem is that the man is in no hurry, he also waits for the last one, and in fact I have the impression that he is looking at me,” Poretti continued. “He always has been.”

After discussing the questions he has had during his life about the virgin birth, Poretti discussed a childhood memory of his mother’s faith:

She said of baby Jesus: “He is the Son of God!” My mother did not study philosophy, not even theology and I do not think she has ever read an existentialist novel; she only went to elementary school, I do not think she knew what the Big Bang or quantum physics was, but that day [when I was four] she answered me with all the wisdom that not even a ‘professor of lineage’ has ever possessed. “Mom, do you really want to tell me that he is the Son of God, that He, His Father, God in fact, had to send His Son to Earth and make Him live like us? And all this because we were and still are incredulous that God exists?” ...

When I allowed myself to be so doubtful, my mother said that He, His Father, was infinitely generous and deeply in love with us. And at that point my intellectual self-assurance fell silent, all that remained and all that remains is to kneel down to give thanks: Jesus, I am not the best in the class like that nerd Peter, you know that I am a repeater; it is just that sometimes one is embarrassed to have a friend like you. I’m sorry.

 

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Further information:

• La risposta alla Domanda (L'Osservatore Romano)