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In today’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew, we hear Jesus say:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (17-19).
For more than 2,000 years, Catholic Christians have honored Peter and his successors as earthly leaders of the Christian Church. For although we see Jesus as the head of the Church, on earth we see Peter and his successors as the earthly administrators of Christ’s Church. Some of these leaders have been excellent, others mediocre, and others bad. In other words, they represented humanity.
Today, we pray for the pope and ask God to guide him in carrying out his incredible responsibilities with wisdom and charity.
