Rt Rev Dr Philip Egan, Bishop of Portsmouth
In the late 1940s when archaeologists were working in St. Peter’s Rome, they broke through the floor into a hitherto unknown lower level. To their great surprise, they uncovered, beneath the basilica, a complex of ancient mausolea that in the fourth century had been partially filled-in to form the foundations of the first St. Peter’s basilica. At the central point was a simple tomb with a casket inscribed Petrou. They then realised what they’d found. For that tomb was directly beneath the lower altar of the church Constantine built, and directly beneath the crypt altar of the church Charlemagne built in eighth century, and directly beneath the great high altar of St. Peter’s today. Amazed, the pope gave permission for the casket to be opened. What they found inside makes you tingle with excitement: the bones of a first century Palestinian man in his mid-60s who had been crucified upside down.
“I have fought the good fight to the end” says St. Paul. “I have run the race to the finish.” We celebrate today the two princes of the apostles: Peter, the Rock on which the Church was founded, and Paul the great Missionary, very different characters yet each in their own way crucial for us. Peter was down to earth, a fisherman, yet appointed by Jesus to be the leader, the first among the Twelve. After the Resurrection, he is often mentioned in Acts of the Apostles as the Church’s spokesman, with a unique prestige and authority. Paul, on the other hand, a devout middle-class Jew, persecuted the Church, but underwent a spectacular conversion on the Road to Damascus. The author of many letters, he spread the Gospel courageously across Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. Today, we praise and thank God for these two holy men, whose work founded the Church and enabled us to receive the salvation of Christ.
“You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. The gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.” Pilgrims have visited Rome since the second century to pray to Saints Peter and Paul and to be close to the Holy Father. Pope Leo is the 266th successor of Peter, to whom Jesus said “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” This power of the keys is the authority to bind and loose, to teach true doctrine, to make decisions in persona Christi. We thank God for the amazing gift of the Church and rejoice to belong to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic community Christ founded. Like Peter and Paul, we too are ordinary folk, called to an extraordinary mission. Let’s ask the Lord to grant us the faith of Peter and the energy of Paul. Indeed, may each one of us copy their passionate love for Jesus – “Yes, Lord, you know I love you” – and their burning desire to spread the Faith.