• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

This Question Shook John Paul II — Now Another Man Must Answer Christ’s Summons

Michie

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Feb 5, 2002
182,412
66,014
Woods
✟5,882,624.00
Country
United States
Gender
Female
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
The greatest pre-conclave homily was preached by St. John Paul II in 1978, on the Gospel where Christ asks Peter three times, ‘Do you love me?’ — the same Gospel heard in churches around the world this Sunday.

On the Sunday before the conclave begins, a good many cardinals will visit their “titular churches” in Rome. This Sunday they will have a Gospel text that should inspire their preaching as they ready themselves to elect a new pope.

The assigned reading for this Sunday is John 21:1-19. Jesus asks Peter three times to profess his love, and three times confers upon him the mission of caring for the entire flock — “feed my lambs, tend my sheep.” As it is the assigned reading for Sunday Mass all over the world, homilists everywhere will likely preach about Peter’s primacy.

Every cardinal, upon receiving the red hat, is assigned a church in Rome, becoming, as it were, the local parish priest. He is not actually that, but the titular assignment maintains an ancient tradition that a bishop is selected by the local clergy — in this case, that the bishop of Rome is elected by the clergy of Rome. The College of Cardinals expresses the universality of the entire Church; their titular churches link them to the local diocese of Rome.

The pre-conclave visits for Sunday Mass can create quite a commotion. The cardinals who live far away from Rome rarely visit their titular churches, so any visit can be something of a local event.

Continued below.