Sunday 11 May 2025
Fourth Sunday of Paschal Tide
Habemus Papam! We have a pope. We have been given in Pope Leo XIV a sign and a servant of the presence of Christ our unique Good Shepherd in the midst of His flock that is the Church. We are filled with joy, gratitude and hope.
Once more, the Church has shown its Catholicity, its universality. Cardinals coming from all parts of the world have come to a quick agreement on the person of the successor of Peter. They have elected a man; the whole People of God has asked for him in prayer and receives him with faith; God has chosen him and given him to Christ and to all of us.
The Pope is God’s. He is the one whom God has prepared for this ministry and whom He supports in a unique way: “You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church.”
He is also ours. He is our Pope, the one who cares for us, who prays for all and each of us, whose life is totally given for all and each of us. He is therefore the one whom it is our duty to support with our prayer and to give our warm and humble love. He is the Pastor who teaches us. He is the Leader who guides us, whom we follow and whom we obey. We listen to the voice of Peter because this is the surest way to listen to the voice of Christ. We all, baptised in the Name of Christ, announce the Gospel with Peter and under Peter.
The Bishop of Rome is the head of the college of Bishops who are successors to the Apostles. The Church is Apostolic, not only in its origins, but also in its very constitution and shape. According to the words of the Preface of the Apostles:
“You Eternal Shepherd, do not desert your flock, but through the blessed apostles watch over it and protect it always, so that it may be governed by those you have appointed shepherds to lead it in the name of your Son.”
At the heart of the college of Bishops, “the successor of Peter, is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity of both the bishops and of the faithful” (LG 23). The Pope is thus “a permanent and visible source and foundation of unity of faith and communion” for the whole Church (LG 18).
The Church is Catholic and Apostolic, and thus she is also One. The Pope is at the heart of the Unity of the Church. It is fitting that Pope Leo’s motto is precisely: “In Illo uno unum”, which translates to “In the one Christ we are one”. These words come from Saint Augustine, whom Pope Leo acknowledges as his spiritual father, being a member of the religious order of the Augustinians.
If according to the phrase already used by St Ignatius of Antioch around 110, the Church of Rome “presides in charity over all the Churches”, this unity comes from love. The Pope is essentially a man of charity, a man of love, a loving man who continually hears Christ’s question: “Peter, do you love me?” On this subject, let us listen to the words which Pope Leo addressed to the Cardinals yesterday morning:
It is the Risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the Church, and continues to fill her with hope through the love “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). It is up to us to be docile listeners to his voice and faithful ministers of his plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the “whisper of a gentle breeze” (1 Kings 19:12) or, as some translate it, in a “sound of sheer silence.” It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to our care. (Leo XIV, Address to Cardinals, 10th May 2025)
“The holy People of God”: this is us, dear Brothers and Sisters. This is all of us, united with the Holiness of God at our Baptism by the grace of Christ Himself and called to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.
Today we pray that our dear Pope Leo: May His Holiness Pope Leo be filled with the Holiness of God and, with the help of Our Lady, lead the Church to the thrice Holy God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.