Editorial: Ubi Petrus Ibi Ecclesia

by Duncan G. Stroik, appearing in Volume 47

The rites of papal succession are a great sight to witness, highlighted majestically by Rome’s art and architecture. After his death, a quarter million people waited in line to pay their respects to Pope Francis (2013-2025) in the baroque nave of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Even heads of state came to make a final visit to the Bishop of Rome lying in state in front of the tomb of the saint. While an individual pope’s reign may be short, the papacy lives on and its art and architecture are reminders of the centrality of the office. On April 26, immediately before the pope’s funeral, Saint Peter’s was the site of impromptu peace talks between Presidents Trump and Zelensky, sitting in the marble nave of the basilica. Pope Francis would be happy. Afterward, there was a regal procession of cardinals, and the body of the pope was carried out into the oval colonnaded piazza. Then the funeral liturgy for the pontiff took place, with Latin prayers and classical music, in which everything was solemn and beautifully done, except for the gas station canopy placed over the altar.

A week later, the world focused on a little chapel next to the basilica.  Since 1878 with the election of Pope Leo XIII, the Sistine Chapel has been the locus of all papal conclaves. Starting on May 7, the Cardinals met to vote for the next successor of Saint Peter to lead the Church. Did the hallowed chapel with its paintings of the lives of Moses and Christ speak to the 133 cardinals? Or did Michelangelo’s illustration of the Creation and the Last Judgment influence their deliberations instead?

After the white smoke on the second day of the conclave, the eyes of the world turned back to the great temple façade of the basilica with its gigantic Corinthian columns. Four of the nine massive stone balconies were filled with prelates in red. Above the bas-relief of the “Giving of the Keys to Peter,” the central balcony had red drapery, with two ionic columns wrapped in red and an elegant tapestry of the papal insignia in front. The enormous and beautifully composed façade helps to magnify the man clothed in white, who is introduced to the world for the first time. “Habemus Papam.” The architecture of the church is a powerful backdrop for papal succession, and a noble representation in stone of the authority of the pope handed down through the centuries from the Apostle Peter, chosen by Christ to lead his flock.

Within a few days of his election, on May 10, Pope Leo XIV went to Genazzano to pray at the shrine of the Madre del Buon Consiglio, run by his Augustinian confrères. Ten days later, he took possession of three other major basilicas. On May 20, he visited the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, the burial place of Saint Paul, with its colonnaded atrium and ancient marble columns. On May 25 he visited Saint John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, built by his predecessor, Pope Sylvester I and Emperor Constantine. He also visited the preeminent church dedicated to the mother of God, Santa Maria Maggiore, including the Pauline Chapel with its icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, the salvation of the Roman people.

What does it mean to have these holy places as a backdrop for papal succession and as symbols of Church continuity? On the one hand, the city of Rome, Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel remind us that each pope fills the shoes of the Apostle Peter and that apostolic succession will continue until Christ returns. It is wonderful how each pope can put his stamp on the Church and exercise the mission of Christ in his time. But holy Tradition is bigger than any one pope and is represented in the universality of the Petrine office. Both individuality and universality are ably expressed by the architecture of Saint Peter’s, a product of particular popes, great architects, top artists and talented theologians over hundreds of years. The continuity and endurance of the Church is seen in its stone walls and statuary, which has outlived politicians, persecutions, wars, and schisms.  This is because the Vatican is a bi-millennial work of art created by some of the greatest artists who have ever lived, all participating in something bigger than themselves — with their own individuality, yet with a unity that has always been a mark of the Church founded by Christ. As Saint Ambrose, teacher of Augustine, once said: “Ubi Petrus Ibi Ecclesia.” Where Peter is, there is the Church.