Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, the preacher of the papal household since 1980, customarily preaches the homily on Good Friday during the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Citing J.R.R. Tolkien, Cardinal Cantalamessa preached that “the only alternative to the truth of Christ” is “that ‘he is a fraud’ and the Gospels ‘garbled accounts of a demented megalomaniac.’ Could such a case, however, withstand 20 centuries of relentless historical and philosophical criticism and produce the fruits it has produced?”