Posted on 07/04/2019 10:52:06 AM PDT by ebb tide
ROME, July 3, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — In an unexpected and what some in Rome are viewing as an ominous gesture, Pope Francis has given away relics of St. Peter the Apostle to an Orthodox patriarch.
Following a solemn Mass on June 29, the liturgical feast of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul, the Pope gave a delegation representing Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople a bronze reliquary containing nine bone fragments of the first Pope.
The Orthodox Church, while having a valid priesthood and sacraments, is not in full communion with Rome, in part because it does not accept papal primacy. Although a mutual withdrawal of excommunication between Rome and Constantinople was issued at the end of the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, Catholics do not pray for the Orthodox patriarchs in their liturgy nor do the Orthodox pray for the Pope. There is no sacramental intercommunion between the Churches.
The nine bone fragments were among the relics of St. Peter discovered during excavations of the Vatican necropolis begun by Pope Pius XI in 1939. During the excavations, archaeologists discovered a funerary monument with a casket engraved with the Greek words Petros eni, or “Peter is here.”
Following subsequent investigations, Italian archeologist Margherita Guarducci published a paper asserting that she had found the bones of St. Peter near the site identified as his tomb.
Fragments of the bones of St. Peter inside the bronze reliquary, Nov. 24, 2013
In 1968, Pope Paul VI, convinced of the authenticity of the discovery, commissioned a bronze reliquary for nine bone fragments and kept the relics in his private chapel in the Apostolic Palace, where they have remained until now. Each year, on the June 29 liturgical feast of St. Peter and Paul, the relics were displayed in the chapel for the private veneration of the Roman Pontiff.
The other relics of St. Peter still remain in a small niche in the wall under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, in the place they were originally discovered.
Pope Francis incenses relics of St. Peter at concluding Mass for the Year of Faith called by Pope Benedict XVI, Nov. 24, 2013, St. Peter's Basilica.
The nine bone fragments have been displayed only once for public veneration, on November 24, 2013, when Pope Francis had the reliquary placed next to the altar during the closing Mass for the Year of Faith, opened by Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis removed the reliquary from the private chapel of the popes on June 29, the liturgical feast of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul, Patrons of Rome.
Archbishop Job of Telmessos, who headed the official delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, said that after the papal Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 29, Pope Francis invited him to accompany him to the tomb of St. Peter under the main altar.
The archbishop said that after the two prayed together at St. Peter’s tomb, the Pope told him he had a “gift for the Church of Constantinople.” The Pope invited the archbishop to accompany him to the Apostolic Palace. There, in the private chapel of the popes, Francis took the reliquary and gave it to Archbishop Job.
“When we entered the chapel,” the Orthodox archbishop said, “Pope Francis explained to me that Pope Paul VI wanted to keep a part of the relics of St. Peter from the Vatican Basilica in his private chapel.”
Pope Francis told him: “I no longer live in the Apostolic Palace, I never use this chapel, I never [celebrate] Holy Mass here, and we have St. Peter’s relics in the basilica itself, so it will be better if they will be kept in Constantinople.”
“This is my gift to the Church of Constantinople,” the Pope added, as he handed over the relics. “Please take this reliquary and give it to my brother Patriarch Bartholomew.”
“This gift is not from me, it is a gift from God,” he said.
Admitting to being somewhat taken aback by the Pope’s decision, Archbishop Job said: “This is an extraordinary and unexpected event that we did not expect. The relics of the Holy Apostle Peter were always kept in Rome where they were the purpose of pilgrimages.”
“The Orthodox Church has never asked for them since they never belonged to the Church of Constantinople,” the archbishop added. “This time, we do not speak of a return of relics to their original place. This time, the relics are being presented as a gift. This prophetic gesture is another huge step on the path to concrete unity.”
But some observers view the gesture as an ominous sign for the Church and for Rome.
“Pope Francis literally gave St. Peter away,” one source in Rome told LifeSite. “Incredible as a gesture.”
“The relics were in the Pope’s private chapel,” a priest noted. “He clearly prefers to make a ‘gesture’ of the relics than to pray before them and receive special graces from his patron, the first Pope.”
“It is an entirely secular way of thinking, and what he reaps — secularization — he will sow for the whole Church, in a way no one expects,” he added.
In comments to LifeSite, another priest in Rome noted how important “locus,” i.e. place, is in Catholic thought, and added that it was the Lord’s will that Peter be martyred in Rome.
The priest pointed out that Christian art and literature have depicted Peter fleeing crucifixion in Rome during Emperor Nero’s persecution. According to a Christian tradition, on a road outside the city, Peter met the risen Jesus. In the Latin translation, Peter asks Jesus, “Quo vadis, Domine?,” to which the risen Lord responds: “Romam eo iterum crucifigi” (“I am going to Rome to be crucified again”). The vision gave Peter the courage to return to the city, where he was martyred by being crucified upside down.
“I strongly suspect this is a sign that St. Peter’s protection will be leaving the Vatican,” an observer in Rome said. “What to watch for next: Francis gives relics of St Paul to Protestants. It would be in the same line as the logic of this move. And it would further remove divine protection, preparing St Peter’s for a devastation not seen since the sack of Rome in the 1500s.”
On the evening of June 29, the relics were transferred from Rome to Constantinople, accompanied by Monsignor Andrea Palmieri, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. On June 30, they were exposed for public veneration during a solemn Divine Liturgy celebrated by Patriarch Bartholomew, who described Pope Francis’s decision as a “brave and bold” gesture.
The reliquary is now being kept at the ecumenical patriarchate in Istanbul.
“Often signs are given to us,” one observer commented on Twitter following the news. “St. Peter leaving Rome for the East means only one [thing]: the judgment has been passed upon Rome.
In your realm, it’s apparently hard to ascertain reality.
Please explain why you think respect for that which God respects, is a fetish.
Exactly. The papacy is Anti-Christ. This guy can lead people straight to hell. Dump the papacy and they have a Christian Church.
A one time event from the OT is something one shouldn't build theological practices around.
That said, can God use whatever/whoever He wants to accomplish His purposes?
You bet.
But "venerating" the bones, teeth, etc of the dead is not something practiced in the NT church.
Treating the body of a holy person with veneration is counted as an act of piety. That's why the "myrrh-bearing women" in the NT are recalled as both brave and honorable: they braved even an encounter with the soldiers, in order to show the proper respect to Jesus' remains. The Church has accordingly shown devotion to the remains of the saints.
Your post seems to suggest there was a battle between the women and the soldiers.....though nothing of the sort happened.
The Roman Catholic idea of "veneration" sure is mighty close to worship. In fact, in some cases it is worship of the dead.
It is apparent you know very little about the practices of the 1st-2nd century Church, nor about the difference between veneration and adoration.
Benedict is Pope.
“Francis,” protector of pedophiles, is a minister of s*t*n.
Not his to give away!
Not exactly. I attended many Catholic services in my younger days - was a bit of a lost soul, so to speak. Seriously considered the priesthood at one point. The priest, who shall remain un-named, that was a sort of mentor to me, made a ham-handed attempt at something I rejected immediately and there went my love for the Church.
The bones were a small selection kept in the private chapel of the Pope. Most of St. Peter’s relics are still in his tomb area in the Necropolis.
Thank you.
There is a church in Patras, Greece, which exhibits what are supposed to be fragments of the cross St. Andrew was crucified on. I don't recall if they claim to have any portions of St. Andrew's body. If they do, and if they can extract DNA from it and from the relics just handed over by Pope Francis, it would be interesting to see if the DNA matches since Peter and Andrew were brothers (Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA should be exactly the same and the autosomal DNA about 50% the same). That is assuming that the bones are correctly identified.
Except Benedict says Francis is the (only) pope:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3761169/posts
We’ll get back together someday, just have to work out that Papal authority thingy...
they can, they're just called Protestants.....
there is no such thing......non-practicing maybe, former.....nope.....you can't undo your genetics either...
the last time they tried it they got their asses kicked...
To the contrary. To the contrary.
Since day 1....."On this rock I will build My church.......remember now???
But that points to the ongoing problem: not making this distinction properly.
You've got respectful people insultingly called idolators for something not meant to be adoration.
It could be something not found in the Bible, but that doesn't make it fetishism.
It could be saluting a fallen serviceman, putting flowers on a gravesite, playing "taps" on a trumpet, keeping a grandmother's picture on the mantel, putting your right hand over your heart, draping a national flag on a veteran's casket, giving a 21-gun salute, placing a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, placing flowers before a statue, singing a national anthem --- none of these things as mentioned in the Bible, but all of them are fitting signs of veneration, and none of them are wrong.
On the other hand, you have hundreds of people explicitly fetishing sexual practices for instance (!!PRIDE!!) (Wearing plush pink vagina replicas on their heads!!) (Putting a Love-Love rainbow murals in public spaces!) and it's not only not banned, it's very likely to show up in the middle school curriculum.
To me, this provokes utter disgust.
But other things can get hard to interpret because of different cultures.
For instance: prostration, or bowing to the ground.
I found 25 instances in the OT in 5 minutes, and I didn't even do a thorough search. God-pleasing people throughout the OT prostrate themselves, in literally dozens of instance, to husbands, to prophets, to brethren, to the Ark, to kings, to fathers, to conquerors, to kinsmen, to Jerusalem, to Levites, to creditors, to the Temple and it is not called out as idolatry or fetishism.
In our day, almost nobody prostrates themselves to anything or anybody, not even to God. And f they did, they would encounter the accusation of idolatry.
It may be they have learned their gesture from a much more honor-centered culture. That prominently includes Biblical and historic Christian cultures.
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