Bulletins

March 17, 2013

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When the new Bishop of Rome is presented to the city of Rome and to the entire world from the balcony of the façade of St. Peter's Basilica, one man who had been a Cardinal much scrutinized is revealed as the man to whom the keys of the kingdom have been entrusted. Whoever he was, he is now our Holy Father. "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16,18-19), words inscribed inside the dome of the same Basilica. To all the Apostles Jesus stated in similar fashion "I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18,18). The promise "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (Luke 10,16) resounds through every Christian century when the bishops and the faithful proclaim with one voice the same Faith preached by the Apostles.

At the Last Supper Our Lord warned St. Peter that he would deny his Saviour three times but that "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22,32). Peter and his successors are qualified not by their successes but by their unqualified docility to the Holy Spirit, which sometimes is made more obvious by their sinfulness. Over breakfast weeks later Jesus asked Peter:

'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' He said to him, Feed my lambs.' A second time he said to him, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.' He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' And he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'

In the Vatican Basilica hovering above the alabaster window of the Holy Spirit which presides over the Altar of the Chair, there is a message in both Latin and Greek: "You feed well the lambs and tend well the sheep of Christ." It reads in the present tense, not the future, because it is a statement of fact, because the promised Advocate came at Pentecost, because the commission given to Peter was fulfilled, is fulfilled and always will be. "The household of God... is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1Timothy 3,15). The papacy and the Church will prevail against all enemies. Long live the Pope.

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard