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| Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome |
Today the Church throughout the world celebrates the anniversary of the dedication of a church in Rome - the Basilica of St. John Lateran. St. John Lateran is magnificent, historic, and full of marvelous works of art - but that is not why it has its own feast on the universal calendar of the Church. We celebrate this particular church because it (not St. Peter's!) is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. In every diocese, the cathedral is a sign of the unity of believers; the Pope's cathedral is thus a sign of the unity of the Church throughout the world.
"...what then is the function of the Church that is made of brick and mortar? The church building is a house of prayer, but never a home. It is a tent, a bridge, a hospital ward, a ship. The church building is the place, the workshop, in which the church people are built up. In the workshop that is the Church, Christ is formed in us, because it is in the Church that we do the eucharistic liturgy, the work of the new creation." (Kristopher Willumsen)
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| The Pope's cathedra, or chair, at St. John Lateran |
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks...
For in this visible house you have let us build
and where you never cease to show favor
to the family on pilgrimage to you in this place,
you wonderfully manifest and accomplish
the mystery of your communion with us.
Here you build up for yourself the temple that we are
and cause your Church, spread throughout the world,
to grow ever more and more as the Lord's own Body,
till she reaches her fullness in the vision of peace,
the heavenly city of Jerusalem.
From the Preface of the Dedication of a Church (2010 translation)
