Still Running Off at the Keyboard

(ANSA) - Rome, April 3 - A fourth-century papyrus manuscript containing the long-lost 'Gospel of Judas' will be presented in Washington on Thursday .

The Gospel of Judas is one of several ancient accounts of Christ's life which were rejected as suspect by the fathers of the early Church and so they did not become part of the Bible .

Vatican officials have denied that the publication this week is part of a rehabilitation of Judas by the Catholic Church .

The document reportedly argues that Judas Iscariot, known to Christians as the man who betrayed Jesus Christ, was an essential part of God's design and, as such, almost a hero .

Without his betrayal, Jesus would not have been crucified and so, the argument goes, God's plan to save mankind from its sins would not have been fulfilled .

The papyrus containing the text of the 'gospel' appeared about 30 years ago on the Egyptian antiquities market. It had last been heard of in AD180, when Saint Irenaeus, a bishop, condemned it as heretical .

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