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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On Sunday, June 29, Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Holy Father Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass in the Vatican Basilica, accompanied by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Concelebrating with the Holy Father were the new Metropolitan Archbishops, on whom he had conferred the pallium. Following the proclamation of the Gospel in Latin and Greek, the Patriarch and the Holy Father gave the homily.
Each year, for the great feast of Saints Peter and Paul – the Pope said, as he gave the introduction to the homily of the Patriarch – a fraternal delegation from the Church of Constantinople arrives in Rome. This year, given that it coincides with the inauguration of the Year of St. Paul, it is led by the Patriarch himself, His Holiness Bartholomew I. “I address my cordial greeting to him as I express my joy of once again having the happy opportunity of exchanging the kiss of peace with him in the common hope of seeing the coming of the day of "unitatis redintegratio" -- the day of full communion between us.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch spoke in his homily of his “joy and emotion” for the Holy Father’s participation in the patronal feast of Constantinople, in honor of the Apostle Saint Andrew, in November 2006. Today, “And we have come to you” – he continued – “returning the honor and love, celebrating with our beloved brother in the land of the West... the holy apostles Peter, brother of Andrew, and Paul -- these two great, central pillars of the whole Church stretched out toward heaven, which, in this historic city, also offered the ultimate shining confession of Christ and gave their souls to the Lord here through martyrdom, one on the cross and the other by the sword, and thus sanctified this city.”
Bartholomew I mentioned that “In both Churches...we duly honor and greatly venerate Peter -- he who made his salvific confession of the divinity of Christ, as much as Paul -- the vessel of election, who proclaimed this confession and faith to the ends of the universe in the midst of the most unimaginable difficulties and dangers.” Making reference to the theological dialogue between the two Churches, that goes forward despite the considerable difficulties that exist, the Patriarch said, “We truly desire and fervently pray that these difficulties will be overcome and that the problems will disappear as soon as possible so that we may reach the desired final goal for the glory of God.” Finally, the Ecumenical Patriarch said, “Your Holiness, we too have proclaimed the year 2008 "Year of the Apostle Paul" on the 2,000 anniversary of the great apostle's birth,” and concluded by calling upon the intercession of the Holy Apostles, that “the Thrice-Holy God” may grant “all his children of the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world ‘union of faith and communion in the Spirit’ in the ‘bond of peace’ and there above eternal life and great mercy.”
Pope Benedict XVI began his homily mentioning that “From the earliest times, the Church of Rome has celebrated the solemnity of the great apostles Peter and Paul as a single feast on the same day, June 29. Through their martyrdom, they became brothers; together, they are the founders of the new Christian Rome... The blood of martyrs does not call for revenge — but reconciles... it presents itself as the power of love which overcomes hate and violence... By virtue of their martyrdom, Peter and Paul are in reciprocal relationship forever. A favorite image of Christian iconography is the embrace of the two apostles on the way to martyrdom. We can say that their martyrdom itself, in its deepest reality, is the realization of a fraternal embrace. They die for the one Christ and, in the witness for which they give their lives, they are one.”
Recalling the writings of the New Testament that describe the meeting of the two Apostles and their unity “in witness and in mission” to the one Gospel of Jesus Christ, Benedict XVI pointed out that although they met at least twice in Jerusalem, Peter and Paul arrive in Rome at the end of their trajectory, “Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner, but at the same time as a Roman citizen who, after his arrest in Jerusalem, as a Roman citizen appealed to the emperor, to whose tribunal he was brought. But in a more profound sense, Paul came to Rome voluntarily.” In fact, for Paul, Rome was a stage on the way to Spain, “that is — according to his conception of the world — towards the extreme end of the earth,” in order to fulfil the mission he has received from Christ in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Moreover, “going to Rome is part of the universality of his mission as one sent to all peoples... Going to Rome is for him the expression of his mission’s catholicity. Rome must make the faith visible to the whole world, it must be the meeting place in the one faith.”
Peter also went to Rome, leaving “the leadership of the Christian-Jewish Church to James the Less, in order to dedicate himself to his true mission: to the ministry of the unity of the one Church of God made up of Jews as well as pagans... St. Peter’s journey to Rome, as representative of the peoples of the world, is above all associated with the word “una” ["one"]: he has the task of creating the “unity” of the “catholica,” of the Church made up of Jews and pagans, the Church of all peoples. And this is the permanent mission of Peter: to make sure that the Church never identifies herself with any one nation, any one culture or any one state. That it may always be the Church of all. That it may unite mankind beyond every frontier and, amidst the divisions of this world, make God’s peace present, the reconciling power of his love.”
The Pope pointed out that today, thanks to technology, the global information network, and the linking of common interests, “there are new modes of unity in the world, which have caused the explosion of new oppositions and given new impetus to old ones. In the midst of this external unity, based on material things, we have all the more need of interior unity which comes from the peace of God - the unity of all those who, through Jesus Christ, have become brothers and sisters. This is the permanent mission of Peter, as well as the special task entrusted to the Church of Rome.” Addressing his brother Metropolitan Archbishops, present in Rome for the reception of the pallium, the Pope explained that this event “reminds us of the Shepherd who puts the lost sheep upon his shoulders — the lost sheep who by himself can no longer find the way home... the pallium becomes a symbol of our love for the Shepherd Christ and our loving together with him... it becomes the symbol of the calling to love men as he does, together with him.” A second meaning of the pallium was explained by the Holy Father: “No one is a shepherd by himself. We are in the succession of the apostles thanks only to being in the communion of the college in which the college of apostles finds its continuation. The communion — the ‘we’ — of the shepherds is part of being shepherds, because there is only one flock, the one Church of Jesus Christ. Finally, this ‘co’- also refers to communion with Peter and his successor as a guarantee of unity. Thus, the pallium speaks to us of the catholicity of the Church, of the universal communion of shepherd and flock. And it refers us to apostolicity: to communion with the faith of the apostles on which the Church is founded.”
The Pope concluded his homily reflecting on Saint Paul and his mission: “When the whole world will have become the liturgy of God, when in its reality it will have become adoration, then it will have reached its goal, then it will be whole and saved. And this is the ultimate objective of St. Paul’s apostolic mission and of ours. It is to such a mystery that the Lord calls us. Let us pray in this hour that he may help us carry it out in the right way, to become true liturgists of Jesus Christ.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 30/6/2008)
