Auteur/autrice : Mathilde Daniel

Pope Francis told members of the synod on synodality that they should respect and honor the faith of all baptized Catholics, including the women, trusting « the holy, faithful people of God » who continue to believe even when their pastors act like dictators.

« I like to think of the church as the simple and humble people who walk in the presence of the Lord — the faithful people of God, » he told participants at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 25.

In a rare intervention as the assembly was nearing its conclusion, Francis told members to trust the fidelity of the people they listened to in preparation for the synod over the past two years.

« One of the characteristics of this faithful people is its infallibility — yes, it is infallible in ‘credendo,’  » in belief, as the Second Vatican Council taught, he said.

« I explain it this way: ‘When you want to know ‘what’ Holy Mother Church believes, go to the magisterium, because it is in charge of teaching it to you, but when you want to know ‘how’ the Church believes, go to the faithful people, » the pope said.

To illustrate his point, Francis shared the « story or legend » of the fifth-century Council of Ephesus when, the story goes, crowds lined the streets shouting to the bishops « Mother of God, » demanding that they declare as dogma « that truth which they already possessed as the people of God. »

« Some say that they had sticks in their hands and showed them to the bishops, » the pope added. « I do not know if it is history or legend, but the image is valid. »

« The faithful people, the holy faithful people of God » have a soul, a conscience and a way of seeing reality, he said.

All of the cardinals and bishops at the synod, he said, come from that people and have received the faith from them — usually from their mothers and grandmothers.

« And here I would like to emphasize that, among God’s holy and faithful people, faith is transmitted in dialect, and generally in a feminine dialect, » he said.

« This is not only because the Church is mother and it is precisely women who best reflect her, » he said, but also because « it is women who know how to hope, know how to discover the resources of the church and of the faithful people, who take risks beyond the limit, perhaps with fear but courageously. »

It was the women disciples, after all, who at dawn « approach a tomb with the intuition — not yet hope — that there may be some life, » he said.

« When ministers overstep in their service and mistreat the people of God, they disfigure the face of the church with chauvanistic and dictatorial attitudes, » the pope said.

He reminded synod members of a speech at the assembly by Sr. Liliana Franco Echeverri, a member of the Company of Mary and president of the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious, who spoke about the ongoing service, commitment and fidelity of Catholic women despite often facing exclusion, rejection and mistreatment.

« Clericalism is a whip, it is a scourge, it is a form of worldliness that defiles and damages the face of the Lord’s bride, » the church, the pope said. « It enslaves God’s holy and faithful people. »

Francis described as « a scandal » the scene of young priests going in to ecclesiastical tailor shops in Rome « trying on cassocks and hats or albs with lace. »

Nevertheless, he said, « the people of God, the holy faithful people of God, go forward with patience and humility enduring the scorn, mistreatment and marginalization on the part of institutionalized clericalism. »

People coming from cultures that promote consumerism over caring for the planet should look to Indigenous communities as models for developing an ecologically conscious mentality, the first cardinal from the Amazon region said.

« To save the Amazon is to save the whole planet, » Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner of Manaus, Brazil, told Catholic News Service Oct. 23. « The Amazon really is a symbol, a symbol of the need to change our mentality, to be less consumeristic, to chase after money less. »

Steiner, who was in Rome for the assembly of the Synod of Bishops, highlighted the severe drought currently impacting Indigenous communities in his diocese, which scientists say has been provoked by massive deforestation. He said that Indigenous communities have been cut off from essential supplies such as fuel since the large rivers that connect them have shrunk to trickling streams due to the drought.

« Why is the forest cut down? Because of money, » he said. « This consumerist, mercantilist way of thinking has to change. »

Unlike in other areas threatened by the effects of climate change, Steiner said, the Amazon retains the positive presence of Indigenous peoples, who care for the rainforest they live in.

For Indigenous populations, « home is not the place they sleep, it is the world they live in, »  Steiner said. « But the world needs to wake up to this, and I don’t know if there is much time to wake up. »

The cardinal praised Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, published Oct. 4, for challenging the consumer mentality and culture that perpetuates the effects of climate change. 

In the document, the pope directly calls out the United States for its disproportionately high level of emissions per individual, but « almost all of us are involved » in advancing a culture focused on consumption, Steiner told CNS.

« We are almost incapable of living without a certain standard of life, » he said, whereas the Amazon’s Indigenous populations « don’t consume extraordinarily, they consume what they need to live and to live together. »

On a societal scale, the cardinal said people are « losing the pleasure of living together. »

« We’re consuming everything today, we’re consuming news, we’re consuming food and drink, but we’re even consuming relationships, in my opinion, » he said. 

While Steiner said he spoke about the drought affecting the Amazon at the synod on synodality, he noted that many other delegates have raised issues about how environmental changes are affecting their communities, especially as related to migration or conflicts.

Speaking about the impact of the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, the cardinal said that the pope’s post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia helped people understand that the « social, environmental, cultural and ecclesial realities » of the church need to all be considered in conjunction and not individually, whether in the Amazon or elsewhere.

The pope’s letter showed that those elements of the church « need to walk together, » the cardinal said. « In that sense, synodality was already happening even in the preparations for that synod, just as it is happening now. »

The cartoon character Charlie Brown never ages, and seems not to learn much either.  Every fall since 1953, Lucy has been snatching away the football just before Charlie can kick it, leaving him sprawled on the ground, lamenting. Poor old Charlie Brown.

It often seems that Jesus’ opponents were as naive as Charlie Brown and as unkind and double-crossing as Lucy. Over and again, they failed to realize that they were no match for the wit and wisdom of their prey. Time after time, they tried to trap Jesus, only to find themselves caught in the spiraling conundrums that flowed from their attempts.

As often happens, the Gospel we hear today has multiple levels of significance.  

Jesus must have enjoyed the rich irony of the group that marshaled to approach him that day. They were Herodians and disciples of the Pharisees — groups with significant ideological differences brought together because they chose to see Jesus as a rival. The combination of these two groups intent on cornering Jesus made for great public theater.

Like prosecuting attorneys, they planned to bamboozle him with a question about paying taxes: If he said, « Don’t pay, » he was rebelling against the Romans; if he advised payment, he was affirming the Roman right to collect a hated tax — something like the British tax of 1773 that led to the Boston Tea Party. Unfortunately for them, Jesus was quick on his feet and led them to get snared in their own trap.

He said, « Show me the money! » Money always talks.

In this case, when one of them produced the type of Roman currency required for paying that much-loathed tax, the coin made a visual announcement that at least one of those purists was walking around with a portrait of Caesar in his purse. That coin not only had an image, but it bore the inscription, « Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus. » That announced that the holder was ready to comply with the tax and also carried a « graven image » of a false God: flagrant violations of God’s command. (In the Catholic list of the 10, this is part of the first commandment; in the usual Protestant version it is the second.)

Simply by showing Jesus the coin they had, they incriminated themselves both of being compliant with Rome and as breaking the law of God. This much of the entertainment is obvious.

Now for the spiraling conundrum. Jesus asked, « Whose image [literally, ‘icon’] is there? » When they identified Caesar, he said, « Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God, what belongs to God. » That short interchange included two key points.

First, « icon » is the word used in Genesis to speak of human beings created as images of God. Genesis 1:26-27 uses the word icon three times as it teaches that male and female are created in the divine image. Hearing the question, « Whose image? », created an echo of Genesis in the minds of anyone steeped in the Scriptures, reminding them that every person is an august icon of God.

Second, the word « render » means more than « pay » or even « repay. » It implies that the person in question is handing over something very personal — this isn’t just a random silver dollar; « rendering » something indicates that the givers are handing over a bit of themselves and admitting that the receiver has the right to it.

This raises the question of what really belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God. Because Jesus had brought Genesis to mind, the answer was obvious: Everything is part of God’s creation, destined to be consecrated to God’s purpose.

Just like Charlie Brown running toward Lucy, the team of Pharisees and Herodians fell into Jesus’ trap and were left sprawling. Instead of forcing Jesus’ hand, the evidence they produced implicated them in the very transgressions they were trying to pin on Jesus. He, in turn, had transformed their interrogation into a proclamation of God’s unique sovereignty.

Note: In the process of taking the lead role in this skit, Jesus didn’t really answer his opponents’ question — at least not directly. He taught unequivocally that love of God and neighbor summarize the human vocation, but he avoided giving details about how love should be incarnated in particular situations — the only hard and fast rule would be love.

As disciples who realize that Jesus did not give a definitive answer, we need to revisit the scene, seeking what the incident teaches. Avoiding meticulous mandates, Jesus invites us to deeper considerations. By recalling Genesis and the human vocation to be icons of the divine, he calls forth our creativity. While he does not give us hard and fast rules, he promises to be there for us, more trustworthy than Lucy, sending the Spirit who helps us learn better than Charlie.

William Butler Yeats posed this dilemma: One must choose the perfection of life or that of the  work. Denise Levertov offers a refutation of that choice. 

As one the most important poets in the second half of the 20th century, Levertov was deeply engaged in social justice matters. The only moniker she allowed was, « Poet in the World. » 

She was born 100 years ago on Oct. 24, 1923, in Ilford, England. In the last years of her life, this avowed agnostic turned to faith, and in the process produced a luminous collection of poetry and prose. She acknowledged that it was in writing poetry she came to faith; her work « enfaithed »  her. 

She was the daughter of « Celt and Jew. » Her mother descended from Welsh poets; her father a Hasidic Jew, scholar of mysticism and a convert to Anglican Christianity. With no formal schooling and educated by her mother until 12, she furthered her education through the BBC, the museums of London and tramps through the English countryside. The family had socialist leanings, welcoming refugees into their home, and Denise often hawked The Daily Worker. During World War II she worked in a London hospital and after the war traveled through Europe, married American GI Mitchell Goodman, came to the U.S. and had a son. The couple divorced in 1975. 

During the Vietnam War she was arrested at protests and wrote many poems about the war. In 1970 she went to Moscow and in 1972 to Hanoi. She participated in protest readings and helped organize actions for artists and writers. She would go on to later protest against nuclear war, U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and destruction of the environment. Burnt out, she wrote: 

« Joy / is real, torture is real, we strain to hold/ a bridge between them, / and fail, / or all but fail. »   She taught at several universities: Berkeley, Tufts and finally at Stanford the last years of her life. 

In 1946 she published her first poetry collection, The Double Image, and by the end of her life she had published 29 books of poetry and prose. As a poet she was influenced by William Carlos Williams, who taught « a Franciscan sense of wonder that illuminates what is accounted ordinary, » Black Mountain poets and Rainer Maria Rilke, who taught her to focus on the word. 

Levertov wrote that Rilke’s style is « reverent, passionate, and comprehensive. » His reverence led him to concrete and sensuous images; his passion brought him to internalize and experience; and his comprehensiveness helped him bridge the gap between art and life. Rilke was the most profound influence on her poetic life. 

As a child Levertov learned her parents’ reverence for life and attention to life, which became the basis for her craft as a poet. She wrote,

The progression seems clear to me: from Reverence for Life to Attention to Life, from Attention to Life to a highly developed Seeing and Hearing, from Seeing and Hearing (faculties almost indistinguishable for the poet) to the Discovery and Revelation of Form.

Although she was bored by religion, an agnostic, her parents did not transmit any sense of religion. Ultimately, it was poetry that led Levertov to religion. Later, she began by writing an agnostic mass, « Mass for the Day of St. Thomas Didymus. » But as she worked on the poem, she arrived at a different place.

« When I  had arrived at the Agnus Dei, I discovered myself to be in a different relationship to the material and the liturgical form from  that  which I had begun, » Levertov writes. « The experience of writing the poem — the long swim through waters of unknown depth — had been also a conversion process … »

She subsequently writes of  « freefall into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace, knowing no effort earns/that all-surrounding grace. » In 1984 she wrote an oratorio for the death of Oscar Romero and American churchwomen killed in El Salvador. By the late 1980s she admitted much of her poetry was religious, and she converted to Catholicism. 

Although she explored many Christian traditions, Levertov was drawn to the liturgy and commitment to social justice found in the Catholic Church. She resonated with the writing and persons of Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, Thomas Merton, Franciscan poet Murray Bodo and David Steindi-Rast. She entered the Catholic Church. In « Flicking Mind » she writes: « Lord, not you, / it is I who am absent. » Her coming to God was gradual and experiential, not credal, much like Thomas Didymus. 

In the late 1980s Levertov moved to Seattle. There her images of God include morning mist, the tower Mt. Rainer, joy, a flood of mercy and silence. In her last poem, « Primary Wonder, » she writes, 

And then
once more the quiet mystery
is present to me, the throng’s clamor/ recedes: the mystery that that there is  anything, anything at all
let alone cosmos, joy, memory, everything,
rather than void: And that, O Lord,/Creator, Hallowed One, You still,
hour by hour by hour sustain it.

Denise Levertov was both prophet and poet. She lived with the door of her life opened to the transcendence, the numinous. She lived as a pilgrim weaving together life and work. In 1997 she died of lymphoma; she was 74.     

Israel and Ukraine both face existential threats and deserve U.S. aid as they fend off conflict, President Joe Biden said in an Oval Office address to the nation on Oct. 19.

In the televised address following his return from a visit to Israel, Biden argued that although the conflicts are far from the U.S. mainland, « making sure Israel and Ukraine succeed is vital for America’s national security. »

« History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction, » Biden said from behind the Resolute Desk. « They keep going, and the cost and the threats to America and the world keep rising. »

Biden requested more than $105 billion in aid for both conflicts, and other « Critical National Security Priorities, » including efforts to ensure U.S. military resources and additional funding for security efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a release from the White House, as Ukraine continues to fend off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and Israel responds to an attack by Hamas, a group recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States.

« It’s a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations, help us keep American troops out of harm’s way, help us build a world that is safer, more peaceful, and more prosperous for our children and grandchildren, » Biden said.

Remarking on his visits to both war zones, Biden said « Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy — completely annihilate it. »

Biden said Hamas’ « stated purpose for existing is the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jewish people, » but the group does not represent the Palestinian people.

« Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and innocent Palestinian families are suffering greatly because of them, » he said.

Biden also repeated U.S. intelligence analysis that a blast at a Gaza hospital was not caused by Israel.

« More than 1,300 people slaughtered in Israel, including at least 32 American citizens, » Biden said, adding that « scores of innocents — from infants to elderly grandparents, Israelis, Americans » — [have been] taken hostage.

« As I told the families of Americans being held captive by Hamas, we’re pursuing every avenue to bring their loved ones home, » he said. « As president, there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans held hostage. »

Meanwhile, Biden said, « Putin denies Ukraine has or ever had real statehood. »

« He claims the Soviet Union created Ukraine, » Biden said, adding, « If we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine. »

Biden, who is the nation’s second Catholic president, argued « America is a beacon to the world still. »

« Tonight, there are innocent people all over the world who hope because of us, who believe in a better life because of us, who are desperate not to be forgotten by us, and who are waiting for us, » he said. « But time is of the essence. »

In an allusion to the ongoing and contentious debates in the House over electing a speaker, Biden continued, « I know we have our divisions at home. We have to get past them. »

If the House fails to elect a Speaker — or a temporary one — U.S. ability to provide aid to both Israel and Ukraine could be stymied, as the chamber cannot conduct its usual business until the position is filled.

« We can’t let petty, partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation, » he said. « We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen. »

« We have to remember who we are, » he added. « We are the United States of America, the United States of America. And there is nothing — nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together. »

Taking to heart the lesson of the parable of the good Samaritan is the key to assisting the millions of migrants and refugees forced to travel far from their homelands and often exploited along the way, Pope Francis said.

« The road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho was not a safe route, just as today the many migration routes that traverse deserts, forests, rivers and seas are not safe, » the pope said Oct. 19 as he led members of the synod on synodality in praying for migrants and refugees.

« How many of our brothers and sisters find themselves today in the same condition as the traveler in the parable? » the pope asked. « How many are robbed, stripped and beaten along the way? »

The evening prayer service took place around « Angels Unawares, » a sculpture by Canadian Timothy Schmalz, that has stood in St. Peter’s Square since 2019. The bronze boat is filled with 140 figures depicting migrants from various historical periods and various nations.

The prayer service « will effectively symbolize walking together with the some of the most vulnerable people on our planet, namely, those who are fleeing, those who are forced to be on the move, those whom we call migrants and refugees, » said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Staff from the dicastery, a refugee from Cameroon and a refugee from Ukraine read the prayers at the service.

In his reflection, Francis called for the reform of immigration policies to increase regular, legal channels for migration, recognizing national economic and demographic policies, but always putting « the most vulnerable at the center. »

And, he said, those policies should recognize the benefits migrants bring to their new homelands, including « the growth of more inclusive, more beautiful and more peaceful societies. »

« All of us must strive to make the road safer, so that today’s travelers do not fall victim to bandits, » the pope said. And « we need to multiply our efforts to combat the criminal networks that exploit the hopes and dreams of migrants. »

Migrants and refugees often « leave their homes deceived by unscrupulous traffickers. They are then sold like commodities. They are kidnapped, imprisoned, exploited and enslaved, » he said. « They are humiliated, tortured and raped. Many of them die without ever reaching their destination. »

« The migration routes of our time are filled with men and women who are wounded and left half-dead, our brothers and sisters whose pain cries out before God, » Francis said.

Although the pope did not mention specific situations, he made references easily compared to the situation of people who had to leave Ukraine because of the Russian invasion or are leaving northern Gaza after the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliation.

Often, he said, the people on the move are « fleeing war and terrorism, as we are witnessing, sadly, in these days. »

Czerny told Catholic News Service that while migrants and refugees may not be making headlines in media coverage of the synod, « in fact, the synod embraces all those realities in our daily lives, which we need to accompany — or to use the synod word — walk with. »

That is why, he said, after a long day of work in the synod hall, members walked into St. Peter’s Square and to the statue, a monument to « vulnerable people on the move, people in flight, of all ages, of all places, and of all times. So that’s us, all of us. »

Synod members, he said, will pray for people they know, for situations in their own countries and for « the vulnerable people in urgent situations that we know about, like the U.S.-Mexican border or the Mediterranean, or many other places where, unfortunately, people are forced to flee from danger into enormous insecurity. »

Personally, he said, he prays for « whatever is the situation or many situations that I hear about in the course of my work, and each of them would break your heart and they come from all over the world. »

Migration was a major topic at the synod briefing earlier in the day with Czerny, Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, Archbishop Dabula Anthony Mpako of Pretoria, South Africa, and Maronite Missionary Fr. Khalil Alwan, the Lebanon-based secretary-general of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East.

Flores, whose diocese is on the border with Mexico, said his people are not wealthy, but they are generous.

And, he said, in receiving, welcoming and assisting the families who cross the border, generally with the permission of the United States government, Catholics work with other Christian churches as well as the Muslim and Jewish communities. There also is constant communication and coordination with the bishop of Matamoros, Mexico, across the river, who also is hosting and ministering to migrants coming from South and Central America.

Francis told those at the prayer service that while it is easy to look the other way — or walk on the other side of the road as characters in the parable did — the Gospel calls Christians « to be neighbors to all the wayfarers of our time, to save their lives, to heal their wounds and to soothe their pain. »

« For many, tragically, it is too late, and we are left only to weep over their graves, if they even have a grave, » he said. « Yet the Lord knows the face of each of them, and he does not forget it. »

As Michael « Mick » Burkett proudly hoisted a large tray of Bibb lettuce plants from a shallow pool of clear water, blue tilapia darted in ever-changing directions inside a nearby fish tank.

The bright green plants at Bishop Walsh School in Cumberland in western Maryland owe their existence to the fish, drawing nutrients for their growth from the cold-blooded vertebrates’ waste.

There’s no soil around — only fish, water, plants and a system of overhead lighting, all fastidiously tended by students at western Maryland’s only pre-K-12 Catholic school.

« What you can’t see are the bacteria — and those are really the stars of the show, » Burkett, chairman of Bishop Walsh’s science department, told Catholic Review, the news outlet of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. « The bacteria take the waste from the fish and they put it into a usable form for the plants that take up those nutrients, with the water going back to the fish cleaner than when it left. »

The end results are rows and rows of thriving vegetable plants that students harvest for use in the school cafeteria, to sell to members of the school community and to help feed people who are hungry at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Cumberland.

Eventually, students hope to sell their produce — lettuce, peas and more — to nearby restaurants. As for the fish? As they grow and are replaced by younger upstarts, they may eventually become the main course for Lenten fish fries or be turned into fish tacos.

Now in its second year, the aquaponics lab at Bishop Walsh School helps students learn science in what school leaders said is a fun and dynamic way.

Burkett’s brainchild was built last school year at a cost of about $25,000. In recent years, the school used a ZipGrow Tower for hydroponic farming (water-based agriculture without fish) and erected an outdoor greenhouse to give students experience in agribusiness. Building a full-scale center for aquaponics was the next step, said Burkett, noting that the aquaponics lab has 39 fish in one large tank and another four in a smaller display tank.

The hydroponics, aquaponics and greenhouse activities are coordinated through two extracurricular clubs: BWGrows for highschoolers and BWGrows Jr. for middle schoolers. Related lessons also are provided to students of all ages through science classes.

The aquaponics program has received generous support from donors, Burkett said, and one contributor has pledged $500 for a student research project in the field.

Joseph Khachan, a 12-year-old seventh grader, said he and other students test pH levels, plant seeds, feed fish and keep track of the growth of the plants in the lab.

« We really have to work together as a team to get things done, » he told Catholic Review.

« You have to get your hands involved in everything. It’s not your typical class where you just sit in a chair and they teach you things. »

Khachan said a commitment to the aquaponics program can be time-consuming, but rewarding. He is glad some of the food he produces helps people at the Union Rescue Mission.

« It makes you feel like you’re part of the community and that your work is going to a good cause, » he said.
Ella Riley, a 14-year-old eighth grader, said she has grown in her knowledge of biology and chemistry through aquaponics.

« The challenge is keeping up with it, » she told Catholic Review. « There is someone working on it every day — keeping up with the maintenance, the daily pH levels and harvesting. If one thing goes wrong, your entire system can fail. »

Riley has enjoyed some of the lettuce she helped produce.

« I had some on my sandwich, » she said. « It has a fresher, cleaner taste than what you get in the grocery store. It’s more crisp. »

Burkett said the produce is high-quality.

« There are no insecticides, no pesticides and the nutrients in the water are extremely high, » he said. « So it’s about as nutritionally complete as it can be. »

The teacher hopes the program continues to expand. It is already raising Bishop Walsh’s profile in western Maryland.

« Who knows where this thing will go? » he wondered.

Since « walking together » is an essential characteristic of synodality, synod organizers made it literal with a pilgrimage to some of Rome’s earliest Christian catacombs.

Many clad in comfortable walking shoes, sneakers or loafers, about 250 participants from the assembly of the Synod of Bishops arrived by bus from the Vatican to walk about a quarter mile along the ancient Appian Way to the Basilica of St. Sebastian.

The friendly and informal gathering had the feel of a school field trip, but the late afternoon event Oct. 12 was meant to be a deep spiritual journey of faith, not a cultural excursion.

They were « really going down to the roots, the foundations » of the Christian faith, Msgr. Pasquale Iacobone, president of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology, told the minibus loads of synod fathers, synod mothers and other participants in the basilica as they waited for the last bus still caught in traffic.

« It is wonderful to welcome you, » the monsignor said, offering a detailed history of the Christian catacombs in Rome and why St. Sebastian’s was chosen and the message it was meant to convey.

After the apostles Peter and Paul were crucified and buried near where they were killed in different parts of Rome, their relics were temporarily transferred together to the catacombs of St. Sebastian in 258 on June 29, their feast day, he said.

The underground catacombs, made up of miles of galleries lined with burial niches, were an egalitarian burial system for Christians of all social and economic backgrounds as a way to respect the same sense of community that enlivened the early Christian Church. The most important popes of the third century are also buried along the Appian Way.

Sts. Peter and Paul’s relics were brought to the St. Sebastian catacombs, the monsignor said, to safeguard them from the marauding and vandalism targeting Christian sites during the Roman Empire’s ongoing persecution.

The site became an important « memorial » of these two apostles, he said. Hundreds of examples of graffiti still remain where Christians carved the saints’ names in different languages, asking for their intercession.

« You synod fathers would do well to remember » what this place represents and keep the two saints and the people’s devotion to them in mind while entering the catacombs to « celebrate and venerate together, » Iacobone said.

Several synod participants were visiting an ancient catacomb for the first time, and it was hard not to become a bit of a tourist, taking pictures of faded frescoes, old inscriptions and Christian symbol carvings scattered throughout the tunnels. Due to the small spaces of the catacombs, people were divided into different groups that visited either the catacombs of St. Sebastian, St. Callixtus or Domitilla.

Chinese Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun was deeply moved, telling Vatican News Oct. 12, « It is the first time I see this. It is a profound experience to touch where the church, where my faith, began. »

The Catacombs of St. Sebastian also contain the first image of the two apostles embracing, Iacobone said.

« Even back then the church had divisions and differences, » he said; the image represents the reconciliation of two very different and, at times, disagreeing apostles and conveys the same call for reconciliation of today’s disciples.

The monsignor was clear the purpose of the synod pilgrimage was to « find themselves united, reconciled, in pilgrimage » and retrace the same journey of faith as the early Christian martyrs and pilgrims who venerated them.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, relator general of the assembly, then addressed the congregants, who included cardinals, bishops, priests, laypeople and religious, all seated randomly without distinction in the pews.

He told the account of St. Peter leaving Rome, walking along the Appian Way, to escape persecution when he meets Jesus. Peter asks: « Domine quo vadis? » or « Lord, where are you going? »

Christ replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified again, which St. Peter took as a sign of his own call to martyrdom. The saint went back into the city and was crucified there. A side altar in the basilica holds the alleged footprints marking the spot where legend holds that St. Peter met Christ as well as a photo and relic of St. John Paul II.

Rome, the cardinal said, represents each Christian’s « reality, » that is, the world they live in or that awaits them, and it is « not always beautiful. »

« So this pilgrimage to Peter is a pilgrimage to our reality, the reality of our churches, » he said.

« Here we know the reality of our churches can never be reflected without the cross, » the cardinal said. « There is no resurrection without the cross » and that cross can even be one’s own unease, sickness or fear.

« This is the place we bishops can confront our cross and tell the Lord, ‘I love you. I take the cross and follow you,’  » he said.

The pilgrimage connected participants not only to the apostles, martyrs and early Christians, but also to the Second Vatican Council.

The last three pages of the prayer booklet contained the « Pact of the Catacombs, » a commitment to be a poor and servant church, signed by a few dozen council fathers Nov. 16, 1965, just a few days before the closing of the Second Vatican Council.

After celebrating Mass in the Catacombs of Domitilla almost 60 years ago, the 42 council members asked God for the grace « to be faithful to the spirit of Jesus » in the service of the poor, to renounce privileges, personal assets and pompousness, and to promote justice, charity, collegiality and communion with the people of God.

There was no formal ceremony or signing of the pact at the 2023 pilgrimage like in 1965 or in 2019 when a group of participants in the Synod on the Amazon went to the Catacombs of Domitilla to reaffirm the pact.

But the promises in the pact given to this year’s pilgrims closely mirror what Pope Francis has been preaching the past 10 years and is trying to solidify with the synod process: that pastors commit themselves to sharing their lives with their people, « revise our lives » with them, « be more humanly present, more welcoming » and be open to all.