Wednesday, December 11 : Venerable Pius XII

You came here on the eve of the day when the church celebrates the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome. (…) Look at the pulpit from which the first pope spoke to the first Christians, like myself in this moment. It was there that he incited them to vigilance against the devil who, like a roaring lion, prowls around us and seeks who to devour (1p 5,8-9); It was there that he exhorted them to keep firmness in faith, so as not to be dragged into the errors of false prophets (2p 2,1; 3,17). This papal teaching continues in his successors, and will continue, immutable, through all time, because that is the mission that Christ Himself has given to the head of His church. To identify the universal and unwavering character of this teaching, the seat of spiritual primacy was, after a providential preparation, fixed in the city of Rome. God, according to the remark of our predecessor Saint Léon the Great, united the peoples by his Providence in a single empire, of which Rome was the capital, so that the light of truth, revealed for the salvation of all Peoples would spread more efficaciously to all of its members (Sermon LXXXII C, 3-5). Peter’s successors, mortal like all men, pass, more or less quickly. But the primacy of Peter will always remain, thanks to the special assistance which was promised to him when Jesus charged him to confirm his brothers in faith (Lk 22,32). Whatever the name, the face, the human origins of each pope; It is always Peter who lives in him, it is Peter who directs and governs, it is Peter especially who teaches and who spreads to the world the liberating light. A great sacred orator said that God established in Rome an eternal pulpit: “Peter will always live in his successors; and speak in his pulpit.”

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team