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In 1510 a young friar – an Augustinian like our present Pope – went for the first and only time to Rome. He was a pious priest, who climbed the Holy Stairs on his knees, and tried to obtain as many indulgences as he could during his stay, but he was also shocked by the worldliness of the Eternal City, and the speed at which Italian priests said Mass. He returned to Germany disedified by Roman corruption, but also tortured by the war between good and evil within his own self; and all this inner turmoil exploded in 1517 in a rebellion which would shake the foundations of the throne of St Peter. Leo X called the dispute between Martin Luther (for it was he) and his opponents, “a squabble among jealous monks”, but it was to prove much more than that, for one man’s disobedience caused many to sin.
In 1533 another young man arrived in Rome, and was to stay there for the rest of his life, until his death in 1595. His name was Philip Neri, and he shows us the proper attitude we ought to have towards the successor of St Peter. When Philip was born, in 1515, two years before Luther published his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg, Leo X, he who so complacently dismissed the monkish squabble, had been on the papal throne for two years. Leo was born Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici, and like St Philip, was born in the Republic of Florence. When elected pope, on 9th December 1513, he had to be ordained priest six days later, and consecrated bishop two days after that. Admittedly, he had been a cardinal since the age of thirteen. Leo X is alleged to have said upon his election, “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it!” And so he did. A Medici on the throne of Peter effectively united Florence and the Papal States, leading to the abolition of the Florentine republic in 1532 by Clement VII – also a Medici and the cousin of Leo X – and the imposition of Alessandro de’ Medici, Clement’s nephew, as hereditary ruler. If you think that the Church has problems today, think again!
Clement VII was the pope who excommunicated Henry VIII, whose reign was so disastrous that he was nearly deposed by the Holy Roman Emperor, and who after the Sack of Rome in 1527 grew a beard in mourning. He set a trend, for all of the next twenty-three popes were bearded, right down to Innocent XII, who died in 1700, after whom no pope has been bearded, since Cardinal Pizzaballa was not elected last year.
So the papacy has had a chequered and shaky history, but nevertheless we need a pope; we need Peter. When our Lord chose him, He knew that He was building the Church upon a rock that would often tremble, that would cower before a little maid in the courtyard of Caiaphas, that would become comfortable and complacent in Renaissance Italy, that would compromise with Xi’s China, that would sometimes appear to come close to denying the very Gospel it was commanded to preach. Nevertheless, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven…and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you.” Peter is chosen not for his own sake, but so that he will confirm the faith of his brethren. He has nothing to offer himself that does not come from the Lord, he can fulfil his role only when he continues to teach what has been held by Christians always and everywhere, “Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but My Father in heaven.”
So what is the essential role that the Vicar of Christ has for the Universal Church? Like all bishops, the Bishop of Rome has three tasks: to teach, to govern, and to sanctify. St Peter himself has this to say about the necessity to teach:
“But false prophets also arose among the people just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled.”
Peter’s role is never to innovate, not to open the door to confused and destructive opinions, but rather to stand firm, to confirm our faith in what has been handed down to us.
At the same time, Peter has this to say about how the Church is to be governed:
“Tend the flock of God that is in your charge, not by constraint but willingly…not as domineering over those in your charge but by being examples to the flock.”
The Bishop of Rome cannot function as a dictator: rather he is to be a servant (Pope St Gregory the Great introduced the title “Servant of the servants of God”), a servant of the Truth, and a servant of the flock.
And to sanctify: the Pontiff’s primary role is liturgical, to celebrate the rites of the Church for the diocese of Rome, and to act as a focus of unity for the Church Catholic.
In the sixteenth-century, there was corruption, ignorance, and complacency at the top of the Church – though not quite to the extent that is sometimes alleged. Starting in Germany, spreading to Switzerland, and then elsewhere, the disease of false teaching destroyed the faith of millions. But Paul III succeeded Clement VII, summoned the Council of Trent, and that Council, starting and stopping, at times seeming as though it would achieve nothing, through the ups and downs of five pontificates in three decades, eventually acted as one of the vehicles for reform and renewal. A purified Church was able to preach more clearly, and as an unexpected result, to bring the Gospel to new peoples in new circumstances. Change was painful but creative – and it came because Peter was there to regulate it, though not always through Peter’s own actions. The most important change could not come from above, because that is not how the Church works. But Peter is necessary to regulate change and to ratify authentic development.
Paul IV was perhaps the most authoritarian pope in history, and he was a zealous reformer – too zealous. All his attempts failed because he tried to reform the Church by diktat. He restricted the work of St Philip and the Oratory, locked the Jews into the ghetto, wanted to try the English Cardinal Pole for heresy, and was technically at war with Queen Mary I of England at the very time when she was restoring the Faith in this land. At his death, the canons of St Peter’s refused to allow Paul’s body into the basilica until they had been paid. Real reform did not come from him, but from that quiet, prayerful presence at San Girolamo, the third Apostle of Rome, our own St Philip.
So, when we look at the Church today, we have a clear lesson from history. There are plenty of false prophets; there are wolves in Germany, and there are wolves in Switzerland, who want to corrupt and subvert. If we wish to live, then we must oppose them in love, we must hold fast to the doctrines that have been handed down to us. We should also remember that it is because he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, that Simon Peter became the Rock. Communion with Peter – that is with Leo XIV – is not a luxury, it is essential. Our Cardinal, St John Henry Newman, became a Catholic because he studied the fourth-century Arian crisis. He realized that to keep saying the same thing you have to use new words; the Arians were the ones who refused to use new words, while the Catholics innovated in order to be faithful. The Church cannot be faithful to truth without a living Magisterium, and for that she needs Peter. If your statement of faith only uses the words of one hundred years ago, like the Arians, or if like those today who are willing to lose communion with Peter, then you are no longer a Catholic.
Reform and renewal take a long time, and the past shows that there are often false starts and backward steps along the way. We need the papacy, but we also have our own part to play: Scripture, tradition, worship, holiness of life. St Philip clung to these even when he was forbidden to function publicly. He didn’t take himself out of communion; he waited faithfully and obediently. If we separate ourselves from the Petrine office, if we start making the rules for ourselves, then we will become those barren branches that wither and are thrown on the fire.
The Faith arrived on these shores, and in this City, from Rome. Our own St Wilfrid insisted at Whitby on the keeping of Roman customs and practices. We have been given a light from the Apostolic See to pass on.
“Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but My Father in heaven.”
