Bishop of Rome Takes Possession of His Cathedral
VATICAN CITY, MAY 8, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI took possession of
the
cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran,
commenting on essential aspects of his new ministry.
"Dear Romans, now I am your bishop and I want to try to be your bishop
with
all my heart, the Bishop of Rome," said the Pope extemporaneously on
Saturday during a Mass he celebrated in the basilica.
"And all of us want to be increasingly Catholic, increasingly brothers
and
sisters of the great family of God, that family in which there are no
foreigners," he added.
The Holy Father arrived at the basilica around 5:15 p.m., in an open
car
from which he greeted thousands of people gathered outside the
basilica,
across town from the Vatican.
In his homily, Benedict XVI opened his heart to express some of the
ideas
which he considers key to his Petrine ministry.
The Pontiff reminded the congregation that "Peter expressed in the
first
place, on behalf of the apostles, the profession of faith: 'You are the
Christ, the son of the living God.' This is the task of all the
Successors
of Peter -- to be the guide in the profession of faith in Christ, the
son of
the living God."
Benedict XVI acknowledged that "this teaching authority frightens many
men
within and outside the Church. They wonder if it is not a threat to the
freedom of conscience, if it is not a presumption that is opposed to
freedom
of thought. It is not so."
He continued: "The power conferred by Christ to Peter and his
Successors is,
in the absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The authority to teach, in
the
Church, entails a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith.
The
Pope is not an absolute monarch, whose thought and will are law. On the
contrary, the Pope's ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and
to
his word.
"He must not proclaim his own ideas, but constantly bind himself and
the
Church to obedience to the word of God, in face of attempts to adapt
and
water down, as well as of all opportunism."
According to the Benedict XVI, this was Pope John Paul II's mission,
"when,
in face of all attempts, apparently benevolent, in face of erroneous
interpretations of freedom, he underlined in an unequivocal way the
inviolability of the human being, the inviolability of human life, from
its
conception until natural death."
"The freedom to kill is not true freedom, but a tyranny that reduces
the
human being to slavery," stated Benedict XVI in his homily, which was
interrupted often with applause.
"The Pope is conscious of being, in his important decisions, bound to
the
great community of faith of all times, to the binding interpretations
developed through the Church's journey of pilgrimage," he said.
Before heading back to the Vatican, the Holy Father visited the
Basilica of
St. Mary Major, where he prayed before the icon of Mary "Salus Populi
Romani," very much venerated by the citizens of Rome.
With this visit, the Pope concluded the process of taking of possession
of
the four great basilicas of Rome: St. Peter's; St. Paul Outside the
Walls,
which he visited April 25; St. John Lateran; and St. Mary Major.
The Diocese of Rome comprises five patriarchal basilicas, 58 minor
basilicas, 330 parishes and 279 non-parish churches.