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VATICAN CITY, March 28 (CNA) - Addressing the more than 20,000 people crowded into St. Peter’s Square for today’s General Audience, Pope Benedict continued his catechesis on Saints of the early Church, turning today to St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons and “the first great theologian of the Church.”* The Holy Father recalled that this great fighter of heresy, who was born in Smyrna in the second century, is a reminder that the true teaching of Christ continues to be imparted by the bishops, who themselves received it from the Apostles, and is readily available to all the faithful. *Irenaeus was a disciple of Bishop Polycarp, who had known St. John the Evangelist. Moving to Gaul, he became one of the priests of the young Christian community of Lyons and, having been sent on a mission to Rome, managed to escape the persecution of Marcus Aurelius in which his predecessor, Bishop Pothinus, was martyred.
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