Church As The Mystery Of Unity

Today, 22 February, is the liturgical Feast of the Chair of St Peter. It sheds light on the special ministry of strengthening and guiding the Church in the unity of the faith which the Lord entrusted to the Head of the Apostles. It consists in this ministerium petrinum (Petrine ministry), the particular service that the Bishop of Rome is called to render to the entire Christian people. It is an indispensable mission that is not built on human prerogatives but on Christ himself, the cornerstone of the Ecclesial Community.

Let us pray that the Church in the different cultures, languages and traditions will be unanimous in believing and professing the truths of faith and morals passed down by the Apostles.

To become aware of the Church as the mystery of unity, dear brothers and sisters, we must fix our gaze on Christ. 

-Blessed John Paul II, 2004 Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

He Will Point Him Out

The poetry below was written by Blessed John Paul II in The Roman Triptych: Meditations. Here in the “Epilogue” of his “Mediations on the Book of Genesis at the Threshold of the Sistine Chapel,” our beloved Holy Father reflected on how Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel challenged the Cardinals voting in the Conclaves of August and October 1987:

It is here, at the feet of this marvelous Sistine profusion of color that the Cardinals gather—a community responsible for the legacy of the keys of the Kingdom.

They come right here.
And once more Michelangelo wraps them in his vision.
"In Him we live and move and have our being.”

Who is He?
Look, here the creating hand of the Almighty Ancient One, turned towards Adam....
In the beginning God created....
He, the all-seeing One....

The Sistine painting will then speak with the Word of the Lord:
Tu es Petrus—as Simon, the son of Jonah, heard.
"To you I will give the keys of the Kingdom."
Those to whom the care of the legacy of the keys has been entrusted
gather here, allowing themselves to be enfolded by the Sistine's colors,
by the vision left to us by Michelangelo—
so it was in August, and then in October of the memorable year of the two Conclaves,
and so it will be again, when the need arises
after my death.
Michelangelo's vision must then speak to them.

Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Today, 22 February, is the liturgical Feast of the Chair of St Peter. It sheds light on the special ministry of strengthening and guiding the Church in the unity of the faith which the Lord entrusted to the Head of the Apostles. It consists in this ministerium petrinum (Petrine ministry), the particular service that the Bishop of Rome is called to render to the entire Christian people. It is an indispensable mission that is not built on human prerogatives but on Christ himself, the cornerstone of the Ecclesial Community.

Let us pray that the Church in the different cultures, languages and traditions will be unanimous in believing and professing the truths of faith and morals passed down by the Apostles.

-Blessed John Paul II, 2004

Pope Benedict XVI reflected upon the history and significance of the Chair of St. Peter in his General Audience address for this feast in 2006.

Let us pray for Pope Benedict during this final week of his pontificate. Let us beg our beloved Blessed John Paul II, who once occupied this seat, to pray for him as well.