In Paul what is pointed out theologically was also
brought about physically: healed of his inner blindness, he sees clearly. Thus
St Paul was not transformed by a thought but by an event, by the irresistible
presence of the Risen One whom subsequently he would never be able to doubt, so
powerful had been the evidence of the event, of this encounter. It radically
changed Paul's life in a fundamental way; in this sense one can and must speak
of a conversion. This encounter is the centre St Luke's account for which it is
very probable that he used an account that may well have originated in the
community of Damascus.
Pope Benedict XVI
3 September 2008
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