All Eyes on Sunday: Leo XIV’s First Words May Cast His Image on Church’s Future| National Catholic Register:
Father Raymond J. de Souza CommentariesMay 16, 202552
Pope Leo XIV will solemnly inaugurate his pontificate on Sunday — the Fifth Sunday of Easter, otherwise the feast of the martyred Pope St. John I (523-526), and the birthday of Pope St. John Paul II.
The entire Church and much of the world will eagerly await what he will say. Recent inaugural homilies have merited careful attention.
Cardinal Robert Prevost became pope immediately upon accepting his election in the Sistine Chapel and has been exercising his office since. Nevertheless, the Mass on Sunday is the great ceremonial beginning. Up until 1963, it was the “coronation” of the new pope, who wore the papal tiara. The rite took five hours (!) in 1958 for St. John XXIII, but was simplified somewhat for St. Paul VI in 1963.
Blessed John Paul I declined to be crowned with the tiara in 1978, and his successors have followed suit. The coronation is now the
“Initiation of the Petrine Ministry of the Bishop of Rome” and includes the imposition of the pallium (liturgical symbol of a metropolitan archbishop) and the bestowal of the Fisherman’s Ring.
After being vested with the insignia of his office, Pope Leo XIV will receive the “obedience” of some “representatives of the People of God.” This moment has been used to powerful effect in the past. In 1978, John Paul II told the master of ceremonies that the Mass had to be three hours long — that was the time Polish state television had allotted for the Mass, and he did not want any time left afterward for communist spin. Each cardinal then made his individual obeisance. It was long but included the historically poignant moments of John Paul
embracing Blessed Stefan Wyszynski, cardinal primate of Poland, and a young Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Munich.
It was at that Mass, Oct. 22, 1978, that John Paul delivered the most famous papal homily of the mass communications era: “Be not afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ!” Such was the power of those words that Oct. 22 is now John Paul’s feast day. Pope Leo XIV
spontaneously added John Paul’s signature phrase to his first Regina Caeli address.
Inaugural homilies in recent times have given shape to the pontificates which followed. For that reason, Pope Leo’s words will be precisely considered.
St. John XXIIIIn 1958, Pope John delivered his
entire homily in Latin, customary then for great occasions. It was Nov. 4, providentially the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, about which John XXIII had written a multi-volume study in his scholarly work on Church history.
Invoking the image of the Good Shepherd, John XXIII chose to emphasize that Jesus spoke of “sheep not of this fold.” The ecumenical and evangelical impulses that would inform the Second Vatican Council were already present.
At the beginning of the Council, Pope John
welcomed a group of Jewish leaders to the Vatican. In one of the most memorable moments of his pontificate, he greeted them: “We are all sons of the same heavenly Father. … I am Joseph, your brother.”
Joseph — Giuseppe — was John XXIII’s baptismal name.
John XXIII had already used the same phrase in his inaugural homily:
“The new Pontiff can be compared, through the vicissitudes of his life, to that son of the Patriarch Jacob, who, receiving his brothers in the presence of the most grave afflictions, shows himself loving and lamenting for them, saying: ‘I am Joseph, your brother.’” (Genesis 45:4).
St. Paul VI
Crowned the day after the solemn feast of Peter and Paul in 1963, Paul VI was the last pope to wear the tiara. He set it aside soon after as a simplification of the papal ceremonial, moving away from the idea of a royal court to that of the “papal chapel” and “papal household.”
Pope Paul said in his
inaugural homily that he would continue the Second Vatican Council. It was a time of great hope, but already Paul VI could see storm clouds on the horizon.
“We will defend the Holy Church from errors of doctrine and custom, which within and outside its borders threaten its integrity and veil its beauty,” he preached in 1963, a theme he would return to often, included at his
last homily, for Peter and Paul 1978.
Paul VI began in Latin, but then preached sections in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Russian, foreshadowing that he would become the first pilgrim pope, taking advantage of air travel to go to every part of the globe.
That he spoke a few words in Russian was poignant at the time — only eight months after the Cuban Missile Crisis and just two months after John XXIII’s final encyclical,
Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth).
Blessed John Paul I
Pope John Paul I followed Paul VI, beginning in Latin and then switching to other languages, though only Italian and French. He delivered a
very brief homily given the occasion, and almost half of it was given over to greeting those present; the rest consisted of unremarkable reflections of the Petrine office.
The homily, unwittingly, signaled the brief pontificate that was to follow.
St. John Paul II
Pope John Paul II did not preach in Latin at all,
but in Italian with paragraphs in various other languages — the most emotional of which was Polish. He also spoke briefly in French, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Czechoslovakian, Russian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian.
He acknowledged that the new Bishop of Rome “is a son of Poland … [but] from this moment he too becomes a Roman.”
While “Be Not Afraid” is the most famous part of the homily, that same section indicated the Christian humanism that would be the central theme of John Paul’s long pontificate.
“Do not be afraid. Christ knows ‘what is in man.’ He alone knows it. So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart.
So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.”
It was a rare document from John Paul that did not include a reference to
Gaudium et Spes, Vatican II’s teaching that Jesus Christ reveals to man what it means to be fully human.
John Paul concluded with that Christian humanism: “I also appeal to all men — to every man (and with what veneration the apostle of Christ must utter this word: ‘man’!) — pray for me!”Pope Benedict XVI
Though Pope Benedict XVI could speak several languages, and likely was the last pope who could conduct meetings in Latin, he delivered his
inaugural homily entirely in Italian.
In a sure indication of his priorities, Pope Benedict began with a lesson from the liturgy, the singing of the Litany of the Saints at the funeral of John Paul, at the conclave, and at the inaugural Mass. He then immediately used a phrase that he would return to with increasing devotion, “the friends of God.”
Friendship with God would be his constant proposal to the world. In a
piercingly beautiful reflection on the 60th anniversary of his ordination, in 2011 as pope, Benedict began with words from the ordination ritual of 1951: I no longer call you servants, but friends (John 15:15).
On April 24, 2005, Benedict weaved a rich biblical reflection on the liturgical symbols of the day — the woolen pallium and the ring, symbols of the shepherd and the fisherman. He drew on patristic sources to remind us that for the fish, the fisherman’s net is a threat. In a passage that illustrates that Benedict was the greatest papal homilist since the age of the Fathers, he preached:
This is what [the Church Fathers] say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendor of God’s light, into true life.
It is really true: As we follow Christ in this mission to be fishers of men, we must bring men and women out of the sea that is salted with so many forms of alienation and onto the land of life, into the light of God. It is really so: The purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is.
We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.
At the conclusion of his homily, Benedict acknowledged that he would always be the pope who came after “the great John Paul,” as he said at his
first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s after his election.
He returned to the “Be Not Afraid” of 1978, but gave it a new interpretation. It would become the most-quoted passage of his pontificate:
Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors for Christ!’ [John Paul] was also speaking to everyone, especially the young. Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom?
And once again [Pope John Paul] said: No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation.
And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ — and you will find true life. Amen.
Benedict’s text will likely stand as the most beautiful inaugural papal homily ever delivered.Pope Francis
On the solemn feast of St. Joseph, Pope Francis inaugurated his pontificate in 2013. He would preach mostly on the readings, relegating the occasion to second place. It would be his pattern over the next 12 years, focusing on the readings, while only mentioning in passing, for example, the saints being canonized or the occasion being celebrated.
It was a brief homily, some 1,400 words, and addressed the role of Joseph as the custos or “protector.”
“How does Joseph exercise his role as protector?” Francis preached. That role is principally to protect Jesus and Mary, and Joseph is a model of “being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own.”
Francis then outlined prominent themes of his pontificate, namely, protection of the vulnerable and protection of the environment.
“The vocation of being a ‘protector,’ however, is not just something involving us Christians alone,” Francis said. “It also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as St. Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.”
“Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: Let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”
Pope Leo XIV will take his turn on Sunday. What will he say? If he follows his immediate predecessors, the Church will have a good sense of what his pontificate will bring.
