Were our Hearts Not Burning? (Lk 24:32)
Fr. Paul Ward                                                                      Home

On the Popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI

            Hey friends, I’m back in action! I haven’t been updating my web page weekly, which was my original plan, for some circumstantial reasons, but now I’m going to try to keep it up regularly, posting new editorials on the home page each Sunday.
            I wanted to offer some simple thoughts about the Papacy, in these days when the whole planet is thinking and praying about it. Pope John Paul II, whom we have already seen named in the press by both civil and ecclesial sources as “St. John Paul the Great,” set the standard quite high. I suppose the next Pope may feel intimidated by stepping into the shoes of so great a Catholic, so great a Saint, so great a priest and Pope. So let’s pray for him, whomever God sends us providentially through the work of the Cardinals.

            And in all things, let us remember that unity in the Catholic Church consists of unity in sacraments, faith and government. A new Pope means that the specifics of the government will change; but what stays is the fact that the Pope occupies the chair of Peter. The Pope is, in a certain sense, Peter. The Pope is the Rock. Let us adhere to the Rock with faith and love to weather the storm that currently blasts down upon the Church from her enemies – namely, the Devil, the flesh and the world.

            “Let us pray for our deceased Pope, John Paul II, and for Benedict XVI, our new pastor. May the Lord protect him, conserve him, and save him from his enemies, Amen.”