by Joe Cady
I had the great joy of being able to visit Rome in the fall of 2017, staying in a small hotel just a block or two away from St. Peter’s Square. I distinctly remember the night that we arrived. After dropping off our luggage and settling into our room, my wife and I took a walk down to St. Peter’s. The experience was breathtaking, something that none of the pictures I took could adequately capture. I was blown away by the magnitude of the architecture and the sense of majesty and transcendence that I experienced there. As I spent more time around St. Peter’s Square, I was struck by how the architecture and design of the square itself communicates deep truths about the nature and mission of the Church. For example: the main Church, St. Peter’s Basilica, while not actually the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome (which is the Basilica of St. John Lateran), does stand as a powerful symbol of Peter and the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. As we hear in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:18). From the very beginning, it was clear that Jesus intended to build a Church to continue his saving mission in the world, and that Peter was to serve as the place of unity and origin for the life and mission of that Church – as St. Ambrose famously said, “Where Peter is, there is the Church.” The main church, to which your eyes and attention are immediately drawn when standing in St. Peter’s Square, serves as a visible reminder that the Church of Jesus Christ, built on the foundation of St. Peter and the apostles in union with him, continues to be present to and active in the world.
However, this Church was never intended to exist for its own sake, but rather was meant to extend into the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and participating in God’s work of restoration and salvation. This missionary understanding of the Church, as a church that must always go forth, is symbolized in the two “arms” extending from the basilica. The Catholic Church, built on the rock of St Peter, is constantly reaching out into the world as a mother seeking to embrace her children. The outstretched arms of St. Peter’s Basilica, therefore, symbolize both the invitation to new life contained in the Gospel and the love that God desires to share with a broken and fallen world. As Jesus said, “I came so that you might have life… Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest… For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 10:10; Mt 11:28; Jn 3:16). Just as the arms of St. Peter’s Basilica stretch out into the square, so also the Church today must be continually aware of its missionary identity and be constantly at work in carrying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every corner of the world.
As you look closer at the arms of St. Peter’s Square, however, you will notice that the tops are lined with statues of Saints, holy men and women who have participated in the saving mission of the Church throughout history. This reveals an important truth; namely, that the mission of the Church, while founded on Peter and the twelve, is advanced over time through the fidelity, holiness, and service of the entire people of God. Each of these saints played a part in the Church’s work of spreading the Gospel and building the Kingdom, and it is through them that the power of the Gospel and the mission of the Church has remained present in the world for over 2000 years. These statues of the faithful departed serve as a reminder to us that God is constantly at work in the world through men and women of faith, and God is calling us to that same work today. Now is our time to embrace the faith, remain close to the Church and the successor of Peter, and carry the Gospel into the world, so that all people might receive the Good News of Jesus Christ. We may never be memorialized in the form of a statue, but that doesn’t matter – the world will be transformed not through the efforts of a few widely known figures but through the ordinary holiness of everyday life, through our daily fidelity to Christ, for, as Pope Francis says, “Holiness is the most attractive face of the Church” Gaudete et Exsultate, 9).
One final aspect of St. Peter’s square that is worth considering is the obelisk in the center of the square. Originally from Alexandria, Egypt, this tall, monolithic structure was moved to Rome around 40 AD and placed in the Circus of Nero, a large open air venue that became the site of the first large scale execution of Christians by the Roman Empire. This obelisk stood in the center of the arena, and would have been one of the last things seen by the first martyrs of the Church. As time went on, the Circus of Nero was abandoned and mostly fell into ruins. However, in 1586, the obelisk of Nero’s circus was relocated to its current location in St. Peter’s square. It may seem odd to have a pagan object (and an object associated with martyrdom) in the middle of St. Peter’s Square, but if considered in a certain light, its presence is quite fitting. Much like the cross, which was a means of Roman torture, oppression, and execution, was claimed by the early Church as a sign not of defeat but of Christ’s victory over death, so also, this obelisk, originally a center piece of Roman oppression of Christianity, now stands at the center of one of the largest and most meaningful symbols of the Church’s perseverance and expansion throughout history. While the Circus of Nero once served as a place where the powers of this world sought to stamp out Christianity, time has proven that this oppression of the Church actually served to build it up rather than tear it down. These first martyrs, in their unwavering fidelity to Christ, gave life to the Church and accelerated its expansion throughout the Roman Empire. As Tertullian, the 2nd century Christian writer, famously said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” – the more the Roman authorities tried to put an end to Christianity by killing its members, the more numerous they became. And the presence of this obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s is a reminder of Christ’s victory over sin and death, a reminder that the Gospel lives on and the mission of Jesus continues, despite those who might wish to stop it.
St. Peter’s square, by design, is meant to embody certain truths about the nature and mission of the Church: its connection to and foundation in Peter and the promises made to him by Christ, its essential identity as a church going forth into the world, its mission of bearing witness to the love of God and the invitation to follow Christ, and its expansion over time through the faithful witness of those who have lived, and even died, in fidelity to the Gospel. It is this Church that remains today, and to which you and I belong. Let us look to St. Peter’s, and the story that it tells, and embrace as our own the mission originally given to Peter and the twelve, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Let us draw near to Christ, listen attentively to the Church, and allow the Gospel to inform and transform our lives, so that, through us, all people might come to know the love and goodness of God who “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4).