Vatican Titanic is no longer the Barque of St. Peter. Vatican Ending
Updated July 8, 2012
Look closely at these natural evil eyes of Benedict XVI, see more about his eyes in many angles here http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/09/benedict-xvi-uses-hitler-to-divert.html
Benedict XVI’s Consecration to Mary cannot protect children from pedophile priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/benedict-xvis-consecration-to-mary.html
http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/05/evil-eyes-of-benedict-xvi.html
Totus Tuus Marie pathological lie of John Paul II
St. John Bosco could not foresee this image of Guadalupe versus John Paul II
See this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children from the Serpent but John Paul II gave countless thousands of little boys to the Serpent of Sodomy to be sodomized and raped by his John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army for over 26 years during his glorious papacy as John Paul II the Great
The Danish cartoonist of the prophet Mohammed portrayed John Paul II as the Pope of Pedophilia with the inscription "I am not for homosexuality but for pedophilia".
In this Danish cartoonist image, John Paul II is the Sun as the Infallible most powerful Pope of the Catholics with seven rays of the 7 Sacraments, he is in his white papal uniform and his two papal hands pulls up the children"s robes because he enabled and allowed thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests to go on freely sodomizing and raping little boys (and girls) during his longest reigning papacy of 26 years, together with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger his right-hand man. See more on the Danish cartoonist describing about John Paul II on Danish radio http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html.
Saint Michael the Archangel tied a giant millstone to John Paul II's neck at the last World Youth Day speech of JP2 -- Read John Paul II the Pope of Sodomy: Vision of St. Michael the
Heil Satanas John Paul II the Pope of Sodomy, Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts and Rapists-Priests
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There are many reasons why the Vatican Titanic is sinking in moral bankruptcy because it was helmed by John Paul II and the criminal Cardinal Ratzinger for over 27 years both controlled by the Opus Dei, these 3 makes the new Vatican Trinity. We will post here a compilation of articles that show how evil the Vatican is, and how the Opus Dei who controls it perpetuates evil through their Catholic power all over the world. The worst lie of course is that John Paul II is a fast-track saint when actually St. Michael tied a millstone around his neck in his last World Youth Day and threw him into a sea of fire because he refused to admit the thousands of pedophile priests under his "Holy Father Opus Dei" watch, read more here about his hidden evil Achilles Heels http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/
Monsignor William Lynn was found guilty by a secular jury in Philadelphia and he should be defrocked and liacized immediately because he is a criminal, but then as history shows, Opus Dei Golden Cows like Lynn are criminals and are still wizards of the Eucharist, read why the Mass is a total LIE because priests cannot create tiny ants and cannot reincarnate dead cats and dogs therefore they cannot reincarnate God either http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/06/international-eucharistic-congress-in.html.
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Must-Read Articles
Today's Reasons to Quit the Catholic Church
Big Think
Adam Lee on June 27, 2012
Over the last few years, it's become increasingly clear that there's no longer any place in Roman Catholicism for any but the most conservative and doctrinaire members. The signs of a top-down ideological cleansing are too obvious to ignore, including the Vatican hierarchy's using the Eucharist as a bludgeon against politicians who show too much independence and cracking down on nuns for being suspiciously feminist. People, especially young people, are leaving in droves, and the FFRF has been helping them along with billboards and ads urging progressive Catholics to quit the church (I can't tell you how much I love "Put Women's Rights Over Bishops' Wrongs"). Even the executive editor of the New York Times, hardly a voice of radicalism, is in agreement that liberals can do more good outside the church than in. And liberal Catholics who aren't leaving feel compelled to articulate why not, a clear sign that they're feeling the pressure as well.
But you can never have too many reasons on offer to quit the Catholic church. Today, I'd like to toss four more on the pile. Some of these are older stories I meant to write about earlier, but others are brand-new (the Catholic church being a veritable wellspring of self-embarrassment these past few years).
First: You've probably heard that the church has been offering generous severance packages - as much as $20,000 - to known pedophile priests, despite a specific earlier denial that they were doing this. The Vatican's lame and belated excuse has been that laicizing a priest is an unavoidably slow and bureaucratic process, especially if the priest resists; that the church is bound to provide for the priest's needs in the meantime; and that offering lump-sum payouts to the pedophiles so that they'd go quietly was the easiest way to get the process over with. This explanation is thrown into doubt by the case of a rogue archbishop, Emmanuel Milingo, who ordained married men as priests in a public show of defiance and was officially laicized all of six days later.
Clearly, this process can go much faster when the Vatican wants it to. The fact that it didn't go faster with known pedophiles, even ones who admitted their guilt and asked to be defrocked, can only mean they didn't want it to. (Hey, I have an idea: Why not turn the pedophiles over to the justice system and let the state provide for their needs while they're in prison awaiting trial? It speaks volumes that this idea clearly didn't even occur to any church official handling these cases.) Regardless of the church's reasoning, I wonder how its parishioners feel knowing that some of the money they put in the collection plate might end up being used in a payout to a child molester.
Second: From the "holy shit, are you kidding me" department, the Dutch Catholic church (which was in the news last year when an archbishop offered the same excuse as Nazi soldiers) in March was accused of forcibly castrating at least 10 young men who lived in Catholic institutions after they complained to the police about sexual abuse. The possible motivations for this are unclear, though I'd guess it was partly an act of purely malicious retaliation, and partly out of a delusional belief that any sexual abuse of boys happened because they were evil tempters who were seducing poor innocent priests, and that this was a way to "treat" them. Either way, if this story is true, the Catholic church will have touched a new low in the moral abyss of institutionalized child rape - and after the scandal has been unfolding this long, that's a remarkable achievement.
Next, there's the story of Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association. Until now, he was best known for inviting a tantrik, a kind of Indian voodoo doctor, to try to kill him with black magic on live television. But he made headlines in recent weeks when a local Catholic church claimed that a religious icon in their possession was miraculously weeping. Edamaruku came to investigate, and determined that the "tears" were water from a leaky pipe that had been drawn up by capillary action. Did the church shrug its shoulders and say, "Oh well, I guess we were wrong"? Nope. Instead, they had Edamaruku charged with blasphemy under India's vaguely worded and easily abused laws protecting religious people's feelings. Facing the threat of arrest, he went abroad and is fighting the warrant from there. In short, for offering an accurate scientific explanation of something that some people thought was a miracle, India's Catholics want to see Sanal Edamaruku arrested and imprisoned! But don't forget, the church is a benevolent institution that's learned from its regrettable past errors and now respects the right of free speech.
Last, but certainly not least: Last week in Philadelphia, Monsignor William Lynn was convicted by a jury on one count of child endangerment. This is the first case, to my knowledge, in which a church official was convicted not for molesting a child himself but for covering up for others who were molesting children. And it probably won't be the last: a bishop in Kansas has been indicted for allegedly finding out about another child-molesting priest in his diocese and not informing the police for six months, violating an earlier agreement that he would tell the police immediately about any new cases of sex abuse that came to his attention.
What's especially noteworthy is the defense employed by Lynn's lawyers. They argued that their client was a blameless middle-management bureaucrat with no power to move priests around, and that the real culprit was his boss at the time: a cardinal in the church, now deceased. This is of course convenient for them, in that it places the blame on a dead man who can't be charged, but it also means that even the defense in this case admits that the pedophilia coverup reaches into the highest levels of the church hierarchy.
Consider the picture painted by all these stories taken together. The Catholic church admits that its most powerful officials have participated in the cover-up of child molestation; it pays off the child molesters and castrates their victims; and wherever the laws permit it, it tries to have its critics arrested and imprisoned. Is this arrogant, corrupt, medievally minded institution the kind of religion you want to belong to? If you haven't left the church yet, what are you waiting for?
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Fatima is controlled by Opus Dei and they fill it with lies after lies
Dear Mr Brown,
According to your latest article on Fatima Mother Celine's book, http://www.spiritdaily.com/sisterluciasecret.htm
The Blessed Mother had nothing to say about clerical pederasty and the Chastisement in the Third Secret either? Mother Celine has stated she and the nuns at the Coimbre convent have been Opus Dei Cooperators for decades but I did not see that was mentioned in the article about her book either.
BISHOP CAWCUTT'S PORNO WEB SITE FOR PRIESTSAND MEDJUGORJE
South African Bishop Has Ties to Medjugorje And Pornographic Website
Bishop Reginald Michael Cawcutt is listed in Denis Nolan's book as a Medjugorje supporter. Cawcutt is Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town, South Africa. According to news articles, "Bishop Cawcutt betrays no qualms about having an openly supportive stand for Dignity, an organization of active homosexuals which has been banned by the church". But that didn't stop the "Gospa" of Medjugorje from appearing in his church, just prior to mass, in January of 1997.
Fr. Slavko Barbaric states in his commentary, "Vicka and I took a long trip to South Africa." Slavko goes on to say, "All the while, Vicka had her daily meetings with Our Lady at the regular time, before the mass, and Mary always gave some advice, such as our needing to pray for the youth, for the church, for the Pope, for families." Slavko continues, "I can say that in these countries in Africa the message of Medjugorje is really being lived and passed on."
According to Slavko, "Many people there have accepted the message and we also met Bishop Reginald Cawcutt (who) celebrated the mass with us." The mass, according to Slavko, would have been said right after Vicka's visit with the "Gospa". What Slavko didn't comment on was whether or not Our Lady could have advised Vicka that, "The Archdiocese of Cape Town has a ministry to gay Catholics founded and headed by Cawcutt." Some people will say, "So what?" Well, here is so what!
Bishop Cawcutt has openly stated that he is in favor of same sex marriages. If we know that, wouldn't it be obvious that our Blessed Mother would know that? Why didn't she warn Vicka? Cawcutt has another problem. On February 20, 2000, the Sunday Times, a South African paper ran an article by Bobby Brown, entitled, "Catholic Bishop Linked to Controversial Website." It stated that; "One of South Africa's top bishops (Cawcutt) has been linked to a website containing pornographic images for gay priests." Quoting Cawcutt, Jordan writes, "I (Cawcutt) entered into that support group quite openly." Later, Bishop Cawcutt issued a statement, in Cape Town, defending the group and accusing RCF of "...illegal, unchristian, irresponsible and immoral scandal mongering." It's like the pot calling the kettle black.
If you want to see something immoral, we would suggest that you click on to http://www.rcf.org/ and look up "St. Sebastian's Angels." You will be in for a shock. You will want to ask yourself; could I ever trust this bishop, or any one of over 50 priests in this group, with my children or grandchildren? We think not.
The March 10, 1998, a South African publication named Mail & Guardian, ran an article entitled: "Bishop Says Legalise Gay Marriages", which stated, in part:
"A Catholic bishop has criticized the Roman Catholic Church's 'outrageous' discrimination against gays and lesbians, and has called on the South African Catholic Bishop's Conference not to oppose anticipated legislation legalising homosexual marriages. Assistant Bishop of Cape Town Reginald Cawcutt's call was published on the front page of 'Southern Cross', the weekly Catholic newspaper."
The "Southern Cross" newspaper of San Diego, California, is the official paper of the San Diego Diocese. This newspaper advertises pilgrimages to Medjugorje. In part, their advert states. "Here are just a few of the 100's of priests who have accompanied our groups as 'Spiritual Directors', a joyful (gay?) Catholic priest, as chaplain, on every spiritual pilgrimage." We know of one, for sure. Fake priest, Richard Brown, who went as Spiritual Director on a tour lead by Peter K. Miller, who worked with Southern Cross.
It will be interesting to learn just how many of these "Spiritual Directors" are involved with the priest porno site, known as "St. Sebastian's Angels." It never ceases to amaze us as to how Denis Nolan finds all of these bishops whom he claims support Medjugorje. Bishop Cawcutt may just turn out to be Nolan's worst headache. Not to mention what will happen if a few Medjugorje pilgrims click on to rcf.org and see one of their "Spiritual Director" priests without any clothes on. St. Sebastian's Angels, Bishop Cawcutt, Slavko Barbaric and Vicka - quite an interesting group who claim to be living out the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje. All thanks to Denis Nolan.
Our compliments to http://www.rcf.org/ "Roman Catholic Faithful"
July 8, 2012 updates must-read articles
Women 'the answer' for Vatican, insider tells AFP
AFP
By Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere (AFP)
VATICAN CITY — The Catholic Church could have avoided much of the scandal that currently surrounds it if women had been in positions of power, says a feminist insider in the Church.
Journalist and historian Lucetta Scaraffia is the founder of a new women's supplement for the Vatican's official newspaper and a campaigner for women's rights in the male-dominated institution.
The scandals that have engulfed the Vatican would not have happened if women had been in charge, she argues.
In the wake of a series of clerical sex abuse affairs that have swept through the Church, she has pushed for women to teach in seminaries to give future priests the social and cultural skills to help them handle celibacy.
God’s bankers
VATICAN CITYThe Economist
FEW things annoy Vatican officials more than lurid novels that depict the papacy as the secretive heart of a global conspiracy. Pope Benedict XVI’s most senior official, his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, this month accused journalists of trying to imitate the American writer, Dan Brown, author of the preposterous—and bestselling—“The Da Vinci Code”. But it was not reporters who put the papal butler, Paolo Gabriele, in a four-by-four-metre cell, accused of leaking a stream of confidential letters. Nor was it they who, the next day, fired the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and published a blistering statement accusing him of failing to do his job. An Italian police investigation, in which documents were seized from Mr Gotti Tedeschi on June 5th, has stoked fears of more scandal. He has since been quoted as saying he fears for his life.
Behind the rows is an intense and vituperative power struggle to determine the nature of the next papacy. It is largely waged in and around the Vatican’s financial institutions. The Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), to give the Vatican bank its formal title, is no stranger to controversy. In the 1980s it was accused of involvement in financial skulduggery and responsibility for the still-mysterious death of a prominent Italian banker, Roberto Calvi.
Now it is seeking to clear its name of involvement in money laundering. According to La Repubblica, a newspaper, a draft report of the Council of Europe gives the Vatican a clean bill of health on all but eight of 49 criteria. More than ten objections would expose the Vatican to the risk of being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force, a body that polices banks. (A Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg on July 4th reviewed the report; the Vatican now has a month to respond.)
God only knows how the church can hide
Brisbane Times
July 8, 2012
Category Opinion
Peter FitzSimons
Suppose, just suppose, that it had emerged this week that back in 1992 a major Australian institution such as, say, Qantas, BHP, the ACTU or, indeed, Fairfax, had an employee make an admission that he had committed paedophile acts on 10-year-old boys; and that instead of calling the police, the institution had kept him in their employ for another 13 years, even as two of those boys went on to take their own lives.
And say within the same institution, credible allegations emerged that another employee regularly raped 10-year-old boys, but instead of the police being called, that employee had been promoted to head office! Just how great do you think the outcry would be? Of course it would engulf the public discourse, would dominate talkback, letters to the editor and Parliament for days, if not weeks. As it happens, that scenario did occur this week, all revealed by reporter Geoff Thompson on Four Corners on Monday night. But the institution in question was the Catholic Church of Australia, the employees in question were priests and reaction since has been somewhat muted. Why?
Two reasons. First, news that a Catholic priest has committed such abominable acts is not actually a ''hold the front page'' story any more, so regularly do we hear of it.
And, second, because these acts occurred within a religious institution, people are reluctant to criticise, for that would be criticising religion, and we don't do that.
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July 8, 2012 - the Deceptions of Vatican Pied Pipers
by Sandro Magister
Pope Joseph Ratzinger does not allow himself to be intimidated by opposition. It is not something that he endures, but rather in crucial cases he intentionally provokes it. And he does not retreat by even one step when the reaction becomes exaggerated and fierce, beyond what is to be expected.
The memorable lecture in
The sexual abuse committed by priests against children and teenagers is another terrain on which Benedict XVI has gone against the current, even before being elected pope. He introduced exceptional procedures into the regulations of the Church. At his behest, for about ten years three out of four cases have been addressed and resolved not by means of canon law, but by the more direct means of extrajudicial decree issued by a higher-level authority. Marcial Maciel, the diabolical founder of the Legionaries of Christ, was sanctioned in this way, when he was still universally revered and acclaimed, never caught at a disadvantage, with all of the numbers to emerge unscathed from a regular process, not only canonical but also civil. An entire national Church, that of
And then the lifting of excommunication from the Lefebvrist bishops, with the efforts to bring them back into the fold; the liberalization of the Mass in the ancient rite; the admission of pro-Catholic Anglican communities into the Church, with their bishops, priests, and faithful; on this terrain as well as Benedict XVI has knowingly created conflicts that are still very lively, drawing avalanches of criticism down on himself. Not only from the left, but also from the right, as when in his book-length interview "Light of the World" he opened a loophole for the licit use of condoms.
It is a mistake to confuse the meekness of this pope with submissiveness. Or with his estrangement from management decisions. Even the tempest that is rocking the Institute for Works of Religion, the Vatican "bank," has its origin precisely in him, from his order to ensure the greatest financial transparency.
There is no government in the world whose decisions are not debated and opposed, before and after they become law, in public or in private. For the Church as well, Pope Benedict wants it to be this way. The internal conflicts documented by the papers that have come out of the
It is not the content of the documents, therefore, but the leaking of them that is the real thorn in the side of this pontificate. It is a betrayal of that pact of loyalty which holds together those who are part of an institution, and with greater reason the Church, where the inviolability of the "internal forum," and even more so of the secrecy of the confessional, inspires a general confidentiality in procedures.
The mutineers maintain, anonymously, that they are doing this for the good of the Church itself. It is a recurring justification in history. They say that from the scandal they want to produce a regeneration of Christianity. But many of their "secular" supporters are interested in a collapse of the Church. Not that it be regenerated, but humiliated.
Conflicts within institutions can be managed. But betrayal much less so. This is the signal, instead, of an absence of management, which has allowed the growth within the Roman curia of the hidden rebellion of some of its "civil servants," and has not been able to do anything to neutralize it.
The
Benedict XVI is so aware of this that, in order to bring order back to the Sacred Palaces, he has not called upon his prime minister, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, but for the consultation of a college of adepts among those farthest from him: to begin with, cardinals Ruini, Ouellet, Tomko, Pell, Tauran.
For a change of management in the
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, June 30, 2006 – At yesterday’s Mass in honor of Saints Peter and Paul, Benedict XVI dedicated his entire homily to the first of the apostles.
The primacy of Peter and his successors is one of the most controversial points among Christians. As on other occasions, Benedict XVI’s intention was clearly that of illustrating the meaning of this primacy in the light of Sacred Scripture, and thus of the will of Jesus. And he traced back to this original meaning his own office now as bishop of
As every June 29, so also this time there was present at the papal Mass in St. Peter’s a delegation from the ecumenical patriarchate of
But something else that emphasized the importance of the visit this year was the approach of Benedict XVI’s trip to
In greeting the delegation, the pope referred to the primacy of Peter and to Christian unity with this musical symbolism:
“I am pleased to recall how Byzantine hymnography attributes to Saint Peter a title charged with meaning, that of ‘protocoryphaeus,’ the first in the choir who has the task of maintaining the harmony of the voices, for the glory of God and the service of his people. I am therefore grateful to you who have come to unite your prayer to ours, prompted by our common commitment to continue the journey that leads us step by step to eliminate all dissonance from the choir of the one Church of Christ.”
But it was above all in the homily for the Mass that Benedict XVI went to the heart of the matter.
Before this homily, pope Ratzinger had dedicated to the apostle Peter three of the catecheses that he reads each Wednesday to the pilgrims gathered to listen to him: on May 17, May 24, and June 7.
In the catecheses following these he outlined, on June 14, the profile of Andrew; on June 21, that of James the Greater; and on June 28, that of James the Lesser. He has already announced that on Wednesdays still to come he will dedicate his catecheses to each of the other apostles.
And so, in the homily for the feast of saints Peter and Paul the pope revisited the figure of Peter from a different angle.
The Gospel proclaimed during the Mass (Matthew 16:13-21) contained the three classic images associated with the primacy of Peter: the rock, the keys, and the office of binding and loosing. But Benedict XVI said he did not want to explain these images once again, but rather to call attention “to the geographical and chronological context of these words”: the place is the spring of the Jordan, on the border of the pagan world; and the time is that of Jesus’ announcement that he is going to Jerusalem and to the Cross.
“Both things,” the pope continued, “go together and determine the inner place of the primacy [of Peter], in fact of the Church in general: the Lord is continually on a journey towards the Cross, towards the lowliness of the suffering and slain servant of God, but at the same time, he is also headed toward the vastness of the world, in which He goes before us as the Risen Lord [...]. For the Church, Good Friday and Easter always go together. [...] The Church – and Christ in it – still suffers today. Christ is relentlessly mocked and stricken over and over again in the figure of the Church; there are always efforts to push it out of the world. The barque of the Church is forever being buffeted by the wind of ideologies that penetrate it with their waters, seemingly condemning it to sink. And yet, precisely in the Church’s suffering, Christ is victorious. [...] He stays on his boat, the ship of the Church. Thus even in the ministry of Peter there is revealed the weakness of what comes from man, but also the strength of God.”
Later in the homily, Benedict XVI illustrated two other passages from the Gospel “in which the Lord, in a particular way each time, transmits to Peter the task that would be his.”
The first is Luke, 22:31-32, with Jesus telling Peter during the last supper:
“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.”
The other passage is John 21:15-19, after the resurrection:
“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ He then said to him a second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ He said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, ‘Follow me.”
And here – in the complete text of the homily – is how Benedict XVI explained the primacy of Peter and his successor in the light of these two passages from the Gospel, apart from the Gospel of the day: ”In this Basilica erected over the tomb of Peter, a pauper’s grave...” (The
by Benedict XVI
"You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church" (Matthew 16:18). What is the Lord really saying to Peter with these words? What promise is he making to him, and what task does he entrust to him? And what is he saying to us - to the bishop of
If we want to understand the meaning of the words of Jesus, it is worthwhile to recall that the Gospels recount for us three different situations in which the Lord, in a particular way each time, transmits to Peter the task that would be his. They tackle the same task, but the diversity of situations and imagery used makes it clear for us what interested and interests the Lord.
In the Gospel of Saint Matthew [16:13-21] which we heard just moments ago, Peter makes his profession of faith to Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. On the basis of this, his specific task is conferred upon him through three images: that of the rock that becomes the foundation or cornerstone; that of the keys and of loosening and binding. I do not intend to interpret once again these three images, which the Church, throughout the centuries, has constantly explained anew; rather, I would like to draw attention to the geographical and chronological context of these words.
The promise was made near the source of the
Both things go together and determine the inner place of the Primacy, in fact of the Church in general: the Lord is continually on a journey towards the Cross, towards the lowliness of the suffering and slain servant of God, but at the same time, he is also headed toward the vastness of the world, in which He goes before us as the Risen Lord, in order that the light of his word and the presence of his love may shine forth in the world; he is on a journey because it is though Him, the crucified and risen Christ, the God himself enters the world. In this sense Peter, in his first letter, describes himself as a witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed” (5:1). For the Church, Good Friday and Easter always go together; the Church is always both the mustard seed and the tree in whose branches the birds of the air make their nests. The Church – and Christ in it – still suffers today. Christ is relentlessly mocked and stricken over and over again in the figure of the Church; there are always efforts to push it out of the world. The barque of the Church is forever being buffeted by the wind of ideologies that penetrate it with their waters, seemingly condemning it to sink. And yet, precisely in the Church’s suffering, Christ is victorious. In spite of everything, faith in Him always draws new strength. Today also the Lord commands the waters, and shows himself as Lord over the elements. He stays on his boat, the ship of the Church. Thus even in the ministry of Peter there is revealed the weakness of what comes from man, but also the strength of God.”
Let us now turn to the Gospel of Saint Luke that tells us how the Lord, during the last supper, again entrusted a special task to Peter (cf. Luke 22:31-33).
This time, the words the Jesus addresses to Simon come immediately after the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist. The Lord has just given himself to his disciples under the species of bread and wine. We see in the institution of the Eucharist the act by which the Church was really and truly founded. It is not only himself that the Lord gives to his followers through the Eucharist - he also gives them the reality of a new communion among themselves, which continues down through the ages “until He comes” (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:26). Through the Eucharist, the disciples become a living home for him, a home that grows throughout history as the new and living
And then he turned to Peter. He said Satan had demanded to sift the disciples like wheat. This evokes the passage in the book of Job in which Satan asks God for permission to afflict Job. The devil - the calumniator of God and men - wants to prove by this that true religious devotion does not exist, but that man is always and in everything looking for his own gain. In Job’s case, God grants Satan the freedom he has requested precisely in order to defend his creature, man, and himself. This is what happens to the disciples of Jesus, in all times. So often it seems to us that God is allowing Satan too much liberty, that he is granting him the ability to shake us in a much too terrible way, and that this exceeds our power and too greatly oppresses us. Again and again we cry out to God: Look down upon the misery of your disciples and protect us! In fact, Jesus continues: ‘I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail’ (Luke 22:32). The prayer of Jesus is the limit posed on the power of evil. The prayers of Jesus are the protection of the Church. We can seek refuge under this protection, cling to it and be sure of it. But, as the Gospel tells us, Jesus prayed especially for Peter: ‘that your faith may not fail.’ This prayer of Jesus is at the same time a promise and a task entrusted. The prayer of Jesus safeguards Peter’s faith, the faith that he confessed at Caesarea Philippi: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Ecco: don’t ever allow this faith to become dumb, always reinvigorate it again, even in the face of the cross and all the contradictions of the world – this is the task of Peter. This is precisely why the Lord does not only pray for the personal faith of Peter but for his faith in the service of others. This is what He means when He says: ‘and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers’ (Luke 22:32).
"Once you have turned back" - this saying is at the same time a prophecy and a promise. It foretells the weakness of Simon, who, in the presence of a couple of slaves, denies that he knows Jesus. Through this fall, Peter - and with him, the Church of all times - must learn that its own strength is never sufficient for building up and guiding the Church of the Lord. No one can do it by himself. As capable and skillful as Peter seems, he fails in the first moment of trial: “once you have turned back…” The Lord, who foretold his fall, also promised his conversion: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter…" (Luke 22:61). The gaze of Jesus accomplished the transformation, and became Peter’s salvation: he "went out and began to weep bitterly" (22:62). We always want to implore this salvific glance from Jesus - for all those who bear responsibility in the Church; for all those who suffer on account of the confusion of these times; for both great and small: Lord, always look upon us again and thus raise us up whenever we fall, taking us in your own good hands.
The Lord entrusts to Peter the responsibility for his brothers through the promise of his prayer. Peter’s office is founded upon the prayer of Jesus. It is this that assures him that he will persevere through all human misery. And the Lord entrusts this task to him in the context of the Supper, in connection with the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. The Church, at its core, is a Eucharistic community, and therefore a communion in the Body of the Lord. Peter’s task is that of presiding over this universal communion, of maintaining its presence in the world as a unity that is also visible. He, together with the whole Church of Rome, must - as Saint Ignatius of
The third reference to the Primacy is from the Gospel of John (21:15-19). The Lord rose and as the Risen Lord he entrusted his flock to Peter. Here too, the Cross and the Resurrection are intertwined. In his words to Peter, Jesus portends his journey towards the cross. In this Basilica, erected over the tomb of Peter – a pauper’s grave – we see that the Lord, thus, through the Cross, always triumphs. His power is not a power according to the rules of this world. It is a power of goodness, of truth and love, which is stronger than death. Yes, his promise is true: the power of death, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church He built for Peter (cfr Matthew 16:18), and that He, precisely in this way, continues to build up in person.
On this solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, I address myself in a special way to you, dear metropolitans, who have come from many countries to receive the pallium from the successor of Peter. I salute you cordially together with all those who have accompanied you. It is with particular joy, moreover, that I greet the delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, headed by His Eminence Joannis Zizioulas, metropolitan of







