Your Excellency, Archbishop Giorgio Lingua,
Dear Fr. Apollinare, Guardian of this fraternity,
Dear confreres,
Dear brothers and sisters,
May the Lord give you His peace!
Today the Church celebrates Saint Peter, and the Gospel brings us to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asks His disciples a decisive question: "But who do you say that I am?"
It is Peter who answers: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
To this profession of faith, Jesus responds with words that have echoed throughout history: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church."
"You are the Christ… you are Peter."
It is beautiful to notice that the Church is not founded first of all on a human organization or project. It is founded on faith. The true rock is faith in Jesus Christ, which Peter was the first to profess and of which he became the guardian and witness.
For this reason, whenever we celebrate the feast of Saint Peter, we also celebrate the gift of the Church's unity. Peter continues to be the visible sign of that communion which Christ desired for His people.
Today, in a special way, we pray for the Holy Father, Pope Leo, the Successor of the Apostle Peter. We ask the Lord to sustain him in his mission of strengthening his brothers in the faith, just as Jesus entrusted Peter during the Last Supper.
The Gospel also offers us the image of the rock. A rock remains firm when the wind blows and the storms come.
We who live in the Holy Land know well what it means to go through storms. We have experienced war, fear, uncertainty, the suffering of so many families, and the absence of pilgrims. We may be tempted to place our security in our own strength, our strategies, or our abilities.
But the Lord reminds us that we are not the rock.
Our hope rests on Christ, who continues to sustain His Church. That is why Jesus can say: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This does not mean that the Church will never experience trials or persecution. History proves exactly the opposite. It means, however, that evil will never have the final word, because the Church belongs to Christ.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany the journey of the Church, protect the Holy Father, and sustain all of us, so that, even amid trials, we may continue to build with humility and confidence the Church that belongs to the Lord and that He never ceases to love.
