CATCHING A GLIMPSE OF THE POPE
“I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority…It is my wish, then, that in every place men should pray, lifting up holy hands…” –1 Timothy 2:1, 8
It was a blessing during my recent pilgrimage to Rome not only to catch a glimpse of our new Pope, but also to pray with and for him, concelebrating a Sunday Canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
This past week was the Liturgical Memorial of the great sixteenth century professor of Theology, St. Robert Bellarmine, incidentally perhaps the only professor of my Alma Mater, the Pontifical Gregorian University to have been canonized. It is worth noting that there are dozens of saints among the alumni of the University affectionately called ‘the Greg,’ including St. Maximilian Kolbe who I believe trained for martyrdom sitting in in the hard, upright desks which were still in use during my years studying there!
Every Pope has a name and St. Robert Bellarmine is the namesake or the onomastic feast of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost. Those who work in the Vatican were no doubt thrilled this week as the onomastic day is a special (and rare) extra vacation day. Additionally, Pope Leo celebrated his 70th Birthday this past Sunday, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! That means he has something special in common with us as that feast is also the ‘birthday’ of our current Holy Cross church building, dedicated in 1928. Stolat, Holy Father! Ad multos annos!
The selection of scripture quoted at the top of this article is taken from St. Paul’s First Letter to St. Timothy. It enjoins us to pray for all in authority—both civil and ecclesiastical or spiritual. This passage is at the heart of the Catholic tradition of naming the Pope and Bishop within the Eucharistic Prayer of every Holy Mass. The Mass is never offered (except during a so-called ‘Sede Vacante’ or empty seat after the death of a Pope or Bishop) without naming these spiritual fathers.
It is amazing how habitual that remembrance can become. Between my Priestly Ordination in May 2013 to April 2025, each and every Mass I offered named Pope Francis in the Canon. Since Pope Leo’s election, I have had to be very intentional to call to mind Leo and pray for him at the altar, uniting my offering of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with our Holy Father in Rome. What a joy to have been able to be on pilgrimage to Rome, to catch a glimpse of our Pope and to pass through all four Holy Doors of the Major Basilicas. I will share some additional photos in an upcoming Flocknote message. Here I share just a couple of highlights in the City hallowed by the martyrdoms and tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul.
United in prayer for our Pope and all in authority,
-Fr. Howe