The Universal Church celebrates today the “Feast of the Chair of Peter.” What is being celebrated, actually, is the unity of the Church. This is so because the principal diocese of the Catholic Church is Rome, and the Pope is its bishop. His cathedral is not, as many may be inclined to think, St Peter’s Basilica, but the Church of St John Lateran.
Furthermore, the Bishop of Rome is not ranked above other bishops, but is rather “primus inter pares,” first among equals. Nonetheless, the diocese of Rome has a special place because of its links with St. Peter, on whom Jesus said He would build His Church. Hence the unity of the Church is expressed by the solidarity of each diocese with the diocese of Rome, and with each other.
It is encouraging in our own day that the papal “style” of Pope Francis resonates well (see Matthew 16, 13-19) with the kind of ministry exercised and passed on by St. Peter.
We are invited every day, especially today, to pray for divine guidance for our present Pope and for the Church, that we may be led into a new era of hopeful, life-affirming Catholicism by a fraternal (brotherly) Papal ministry mirroring the beautiful ideal expressed by St. Peter himself.
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La Iglesia Universal celebra hoy la Fiesta de la Cátedra del Apóstol San Pedro. En el día en que los romanos acostumbraban a recordar a sus difuntos, se celebra la sede de aquel Apóstol, cuyo sepulcro de conserva en el campo Vaticano y ha sido llamado a presidir en la caridad a toda la Iglesia, como “primero entre iguales.” Es un día especial para orar porque el obispo de Roma el Papa Francisco), redescubriendo el sentido de la misión que Jesús le confió al Apóstol San Pedro, se pueda convertir en signo y vínculo de unidad entre todos los cristianos.
Oremos: “Padre amoroso, que nada pueda perturbar nuestra confesión de fe de que Jesús es tu Hijo, el Mesías, pues sobre esa roca cimentaste a tu Iglesia y elegiste al Apóstol San Pedro para que, siendo el primero en confesarla, recibiera el encargo de confirmar en ella a sus hermanos. Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo, que vive y reina contigo por los siglos de los siglos. Amén.”
