by Father John P. Cush
Living and studying in Rome, I rarely check my American cellphone. I keep it charged and on my desk just in case there’s an emergency and someone at home needs to contact me. So when I get a text or a call, I nearly fall off my chair!
On Feb. 11, 2013, a little bit after noontime in Rome, I received a text from a dear friend whom I got to know in my first assignment of St. Helen’s, Howard Beach, reading: “Just heard the news; Things must be crazy over there.” To be honest, I had no idea to what she was referring. About three seconds later, a fellow graduate student priest from England burst into my room telling me the news that Pope Benedict XVI had just resigned the papacy.
As one could imagine, the next month in Rome was a flurry of activity, and I know that I was blessed to be in the midst of all of this history playing out in front of me. From Benedict’s resignation on Feb. 11 to his last public Mass on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13, to his departure from the Vatican to Castel Gondolfo on Feb. 28 to the conclave, we as Catholics throughout the world carried on in our daily lives and in our spiritual lives. Masses were celebrated, confessions were heard, baptisms were performed, weddings were officiated, but we were like sheep without a shepherd. In his humility, Benedict knew that he physically could not fulfill the duties of the office of Supreme Pontiff.
As I stood in the crowds in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, March 13, 2013, my eyes (and indeed, the eyes of the world) were focused on a chimney, waiting for any sign of smoke to arrive. In this age of instant messaging, in an era of a global network connecting people’s information from all around the world, we were in rapt attention to perhaps one of the most primitive forms of communication – a smoke signal.
Around 7 p.m., the smoke was white and the crowd went wild. All of us were anxious to know who would be the next pope. Someone to the right of me opined that it would be an Italian; another to the left of me posited that it would be an American.
When the name had been finally announced by Cardinal Tauran, very few of us knew who Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio was. And to be honest, it really didn’t matter. As excited as we all were to welcome our first Jesuit pontiff, our first pope from the Americas, it really didn’t matter. All that did matter, ultimately, is that God, in His loving grace, through the cardinal electors, had given us Peter, the Rock on whom the Lord built His Church.
The Gospel we proclaim today from Matthew 16 tells us the role of the pope in our Church: The pope is the bridge, the real meaning of the title “pontiff.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church 882 tells us: “The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter’s successor, ‘is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.
“‘For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered.’”
The most amazing thing about being in St. Peter’s Square when Peter, now known as Francis, came out on the balcony, greeting the people of God, to whom he pledged his life to serve as our Father, was that it really didn’t matter what cardinal walked out onto the balcony. No matter who was elected, he would have been greeted with love, excitement and respect, for one reason and one reason only: He is the Rock.
We are blessed by the life and example of Pope Francis, by his mercy, his kindness and his zeal for service, and his respect and openness is a true blessing for our Church and our world.
May God continue to bless our Church with our firm foundation – our rock, the pope – now and for generations to come.[hr]
Readings for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Isaiah 22:19-23
Psalm 138: 1-2, 2-3, 6, 8
Romans 11: 33-36
Matthew 16:13-20[hr]
Father John P. Cush, a doctoral candidate in fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, is a priest in residence at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Windsor Terrace.