Popes

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
6 Jul 2008

During the last few weekends 300 young Catholics have been busy at 51 Sydney sites, shopping centres and thoroughfares, inviting other young adults to attend World Youth Day.

They received very few rebuffs and most had heard something of the event.  The Pope was another matter.  Yes, he was known as head of the Catholics; someone like the Dalai Lama?  Given this ignorance, a few words on the role of the Popes, might help fill the void.

Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer, for all Christians, including Catholics, but Christ chose 12 men as apostles to lead his community of followers.  St. Peter, the apostles’ first leader, came to Rome and was martyred there as was St. Paul.

Therefore the Pope is the 264th successor of St. Peter as head of the Church and bishop of Rome, so constituting the papacy as one of the most amazing institutions in history.

China did have an emperor a couple of hundred years before Rome had a bishop, but China has emperors no more!  Hundreds of years before there was a King of England there was a Pope in Rome.  Even in secular terms the papacy is extraordinary, but for Catholics the religious significance is infinitely more important.

Peter’s office or role is well attested in the New Testament writings.  In chapter 16 from Matthew’s gospel, after Peter had affirmed that Christ was the Son of God, he was declared to be the rock man on whom the Church is built.

The Church is not built on the rock of Peter’s faith, as a popular hymn claims, but on Peter himself despite his faults and failings.  It was Jesus who gave Simon the additional name of Peter, the rock man.  In English the words “Peter” and “rock” have different derivations, but in Greek, Latin and Italian they are almost the same word.  In this passage Peter was given the Keys of the Kingdom and the power to bind and loose.  He always heads the list of the apostles and was commissioned to strengthen his brothers.

Pope Benedict is the 265th Pope and history has seen 37 anti-Popes.  From the eighth to the nineteenth century the Popes ruled the Papal States in Central Italy.

There were three difficult periods; first of all in the tenth century with a succession of bad Popes.  Secondly in the late 14th and 15th centuries when there were multiple claimants to the papacy and in the 16th century, the time of the Protestant Reformation, when many of the Popes were formidable rulers, but none of them were over-interested in religion.  Some were corrupt.

Despite these lapses the role of the successor of St. Peter has always been vital to Catholic life, as the guarantor of doctrinal fidelity.

The story of the Popes is stranger than fiction, but the contribution of the many good Popes far outweighs the sins and mistakes of the minority.