The word “cathedra” means seat or throne and is the root of the word cathedral, the church where a bishop has his throne and from whence he preaches. Another word for “cathedra” is “sede” (seat or see): the “see” is the place from which a bishop governs his diocese. Thus, for example, the Holy See is the see of the bishop of Rome, the Pope.

In 2004, on this day, in reflections made during the Angelus, Pope John Paul II remarked that “the liturgical feast of the Chair of Peter underscores the singular mystery, entrusted by the Lord to the leader of the Apostles, of confirming and guiding the Church in the unity of faith. This is what the ‘ministerium petrinum’ is, that particular service that the Bishop of Rome is called to render to all Christians. An indispensable mission that is not based on human prerogatives but on Christ Himself as the cornerstone of the ecclesial community. Let us pray that the Church, in the variety of cultures, languages and traditions, will be unanimous in believing and professing the truth of faith and morals transmitted by the Apostles.”

The Chair of St. Peter is actually a throne that Charles the Bald, the grandson of the Emperor Charlemagne, gave to Pope John VIII at the former’s coronation as emperor on Christmas Day 875. For many years the chair was used at liturgical events by Pope John and his successors: it was ensconced in Bernini’s Altar of the Chair in 1666.

A mixture of tradition, legend and belief held for many years that this was actually a double chair, parts of which dated back to the early days of Christianity and to St. Peter himself. This chair or cathedra has been studied over the centuries; the last time it was removed from its niche in the Bernini altar was a six-year period from 1968 to 1974 during which studies pointed to a single chair whose oldest parts date to the sixth century. What appeared to be an outer or second chair was a covering which served both to protect the throne and to carry it in procession.

Every year on this feast, the monumental altar housing the Chair of Peter is illuminated by scores of candles throughout the entire day. Numerous Masses are celebrated at this altar, from early morning to early evening, concluding with the Mass of the Canons of St. Peter.

The Year will begin on 11 October 2012, fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Vatican Council II, and will come to an end on 24 November 2013, Feast of Christ the King. Its aim “is to give renewed energy to the Church’s mission to lead men and women out of the desert in which they so often find themselves, and towards the place of life, towards friendship with Christ Who gives us life in all its fullness”. The Year will likewise be an opportunity “to strengthen our faith in Christ and joyfully to announce Him to the men and women of our time”, the Pope said.

Commenting on this Sunday’s readings, the Holy Father explained that the mission of the Church must be considered in the light of “the theological meaning of history. Epoch-making events, the rise and fall of great powers, all lie under the supreme dominion of God. No earthly power can take His place. The theology of history is an essential aspect of the new evangelization, because the men and women of our time, following the tragic period of the totalitarian empires of the twentieth century, need to rediscover a global vision of the world and history. They need a truly free and peaceful vision, the vision which Vatican Council II transmitted in its documents and which my predecessors, Servant of God Paul VI and Blessed John Paul II, illustrated with their Magisterium”.

“In order to be effective evangelization needs the strength of the Spirit, which enlivens the message and infuses the person who bears it with the ‘full conviction’ of which St. Paul speaks. … New evangelizers are called to be the first to walk along the Path which is Christ, in order to lead others to the beauty of the life-giving Gospel. On this Path we are never alone, but always in company; it is an experience of communion and fraternity which is offered to everyone we meet, bringing them to share in our experience of Christ and His Church. Thus, witness associated with announcement can open the hearts of those who seek the truth, helping them discover the meaning of their own lives”.

Finally the Holy Father turned his attention to the Gospel episode of the tribute to be paid to the emperor. Jesus command to “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”, he said, “is rich in anthropological significance and cannot be reduced only to the political sphere. The Church, then, does not limit herself to reminding men and women of the just distinction between the authority of Caesar and that of God, between the political and religious spheres. The mission of the Church, like that of Christ, is essentially that of speaking about God, evoking His sovereignty, calling everyone – and especially Christians who have lost their identity – of God’s rights over that which belongs to Him: our lives”.

These words were addressed by the Pope this morning to participants in the annual congress of the “Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice” foundation, who are focusing their reflections on the relationship between families and business. The 2011 congress coincides with the twentieth anniversary of John Paul II’s Encyclical “Centesimus annus” (published 100 years after “Rerum novarum”), and with the thirtieth anniversary of the Apostolic Exhortation “Familiaris consortio”.

“Vatican Council II spoke of families as a ‘domestic Church’, an inviolable sanctuary”, said the Pope, “and economic laws must always take account of the interests and the protection of this fundamental cell of society”. He then went on to recall how John Paul II, in his “Familiaris consortio”, identified four tasks for the family: forming a community of persons; serving life; participating in the development of society, and sharing in the life and mission of the Church. “All four of these functions are founded on love, which is the goal of all education and formation in the family. … It is first and foremost in the family that we learn that, in order to live well in society (including the world of work, economy and business), we must be guided by ‘caritas’, following a logic of gratuitousness, solidarity and mutual responsibility”.

“In our own difficult times we are unfortunately witnessing a crisis in work and the economy which is associated with a crisis in families. … What we need, therefore, is a new and harmonious relationship between family and work, to which the social doctrine of the Church can make an important contribution”. In this context, the Pope referred to his own Encyclical “Caritas in veritate” saying that :”Commutative justice – ‘giving in order to acquire’ – and distributive justice – ‘giving through duty’ – are not sufficient in the life of society. In order for true justice to exist, it is necessary to add gratuitousness and solidarity. ‘Solidarity is first and foremost a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone, and it cannot therefore be merely delegated to the State’”.

“Charity in truth, in this case, requires that shape and structure be given to those types of economic initiative which, without rejecting profit, aim at a higher goal than the mere logic of the exchange of equivalents, of profit as an end in itself”, said Benedict XVI.

“It is not the task of the Church to find ways to face the current crisis”, he concluded. “Nonetheless, Christians have the duty to denounce evils, and to foment and bear witness to the values upon which the dignity of the person is founded, promoting forms of solidarity which favor the common good, so that humankind may increasingly become the family of God”.

The Psalm “speaks of ‘restored fortunes’”, the Pope explained, “in other words, fortunes restored to their original state”. This was the experience of the People of Israel when they returned to their homeland after the Babylonian exile, which had been such a devastating experience not only in political and social terms but also from a religious and spiritual point of view.

“Divine intervention often takes unexpected forms which go beyond what man might expect. … God works marvels in the history of mankind. … He reveals Himself as the powerful and merciful Lord, the refuge of the oppressed Who does not ignore the cry of the poor. … Thus, with the liberation of the People of Israel, everyone recognizes the great and wondrous things God has done for His People and celebrates the Lord as Saviour”.

However, the Holy Father went on, “the Psalm goes beyond the purely historical and opens to a broader, theological dimension”. It uses images which “allude to the mysterious truth of redemption, in which the gift we have received and the gift we await, life and death, intertwine”.

The watercourses of the Neg’eb symbolize divine intervention which, like water, “is capable of transforming the desert into a vast expanse of green grass and flowers”, the Pope explained. Later the Psalm also uses the image of peasants cultivating their fields “to speak of salvation. The reference here is to the annual cycle of agriculture: the difficult and arduous time of sowing then the overriding joy of the harvest. … The seed sprouts and grows”.

“This is the hidden mystery of life, these are the ‘great and wondrous things of salvation which the Lord achieves in the history of mankind, but the secret of which is unknown to man. Divine intervention, when fully expressed, has an overpowering dimension, like the watercourses of the Neg’eb and the grain in the fields. This latter image also evokes the disproportion typical of the things of God: disproportion between the fatigue of sowing and the immense joy of the harvest”.

“The Psalmist refers to all these things to speak of salvation. … The deportation to Babylon, like other situations of suffering and crisis, … with its doubts and the apparent distance from God is, in reality, … like a seedbed. In the mystery of Christ and in the light of the New Testament, the message becomes even clearer and more explicit: the believer who passes through the darkness is like the seed of grain that falls to earth and dies, but brings forth much fruit”.

“This Psalm teaches us that … we must remain hopeful and firm in our faith in God. Our history, though often marked by suffering, uncertainty and moments of crisis, is a history of salvation and ‘restoration of fortunes’. In Jesus our exile ends: … in the mystery of His cross, in death transformed into life, like the seed which splits in the earth and becomes an ear of wheat”.

Psalm 23 is an example of such confidence. “The Psalmist expresses his tranquil certainty that he will be guided and protected, sheltered from all danger because the Lord is his shepherd. … The image evokes an atmosphere of trust, intimacy, tenderness. The shepherd knows his sheep individually, he calls them by name and they follow him because they recognise and trust him. He takes care of them, protects them like a treasure, and is ready to defend them in order to guarantee their wellbeing, to ensure they live in peace. They shall want nothing if the shepherd is with them”.

The Psalm describes the oasis of peace to which the shepherd leads his flock. The setting is a desert landscape, “yet the shepherd knows where to find pasture and water, which are essential for life, he knows the way to the oasis in which the soul can be ‘restored’ with new energies to start the journey afresh. As the Psalmist says, God guides him to ‘green pastures’ and ‘still waters’ where all things are in abundance. … If the Lord is the shepherd, even in the desert, a place of scarcity and death, we do not lose our certainty in the radical presence of life”.

The shepherd adapts his rhythms and his needs to those of his flock. “If we walk behind the ‘Good Shepherd’”, the Pope said, ” however difficult, tortuous and long the paths of our life may seem, we too can be certain that they are right for us, that the Lord guides us and that He is always close”.

Hence the Psalmist adds: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me”. Benedict XVI explained how, although the Psalmist here uses a Hebrew expression which evokes the shadows of death, he nonetheless proceeds without fear because he knows the Lord is with him. “This is a proclamation of unshakeable trust and encapsulates a radical experience of faith: the closeness of God transforms reality, the darkest valley loses all its perils”.

This image concludes the first part of the Psalm and opens the way to a change of scene. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows”. The Lord is now presented “as the One Who welcomes the Psalmist with generous hospitality…. Food, oil, wine are the gifts that enable us to live, they bring joy because they lie beyond what is strictly necessary, an expression of the gratitude and abundance of love”. In the meantime the enemies look on powerlessly because “when God opens His tent to welcome us, nothing can harm us”.

The Psalmist goes on “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long”. The Psalmist’s journey “acquires fresh meaning and becomes a pilgrimage towards the Temple of the Lord, the holy place in which he wishes ‘to dwell’ forever”. Likewise, living near God and His goodness is what all believers long for, the Holy Father said.

This Psalm has accompanied the entire history and religious experience of the People of Israel, but only in Jesus Christ is its evocative strength “fulfilled and fully expressed: Jesus is the ‘Good Shepherd’ Who goes in search of the lost sheep, Who knows His sheep and gives His life for them. He is the way, the way that leads to life, the light that illuminates the dark valley and overcomes all our fears. He is the generous host Who welcomes us and saves us from our enemies, preparing the banquet of His Body and His Blood for us, and the definitive banquet … in heaven. He is the regal Shepherd, King in meekness and mercy, enthroned on the glorious seat of the cross”.

Psalm 23 invites us to renew our trust in God, the Pope concluded, “to abandon ourselves completely in His hands. Let us, then, trustingly ask the Lord to allow us always to walk on His paths, even along the difficult paths of our own times, as a docile and obedient flock; let us ask Him to welcome us into His house, at His  table, and to lead us to ‘still waters’ so that, in welcoming the gift of His Spirit, we may drink from His spring, source of that living water which ‘gushes up to eternal life’”.

Over the course of the week a number of places symbolic of solidarity, such as Caritas canteens and shelters, will host lectures, roundtable discussions, book presentations, concerts, theatrical performances, exhibitions, etc. “A series of events addressed at different sectors of the public with the aim of spreading a culture of solidarity in which concern for those in greatest need is real and authentic”, according to a communique from Msgr. Enrico Feroci, director of Caritas in Rome.

“The theme chosen this year is ‘Faces and Narratives from a United City’ and the participants will be the users of Caritas centers, volunteers, social workers and service providers. The intention is to make people aware of the daily efforts of solidarity made by thousands of people, efforts which often pass unobserved, precisely because they are ‘ordinary’ in their extraordinariness”, Msgr. Feroci says.

Today at the Caritas centre of Villa Glori a discussion will be held on the “rights of refugees and of people under international protection”, while tomorrow a photographic exhibition entitled “The Face and Gaze of the Poor” will be inaugurated at the Capitol, dedicated to Fr. Luigi Di Liegro, founder of Roman Caritas. A Mass for Fr. Di Liegro will be celebrated at 6 p.m. this evening in the Roman basilica of the Holy Apostles. On Thursday 13 October, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Pope’s vicar general for the diocese of Rome, will preside at a missionary vigil in the basilica of St. John Lateran.

On Friday 14 October, the headquarters of Rome’s provincial administration will host a discussion entitled: “From Problems to People: encountering man in order to reanimate politics; possible routes to a shared society”. Among the participants will be Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, and Claudio Cecchini, provincial councillor for social policies, the family and institutional relations. On the afternoon of Saturday 15 October, young people from the diocese of Rome will meet with the Pope in St. Peter’s Square. The week will end on Sunday 16 October with a meeting to be held at the Caritas center of Santa Giacinta, under the title: “Recount and Resist. This unknown territory, voices and narratives from a united city”, followed by a
performance entitled: “Voices and Music for an Evening of Solidarity.”

In his homily Cardinal Bertone highlighted the present-day validity of the new blessed’s educational ideas, which remind us of the vital need for schools in which the religious dimension “can be revealed in all its positive potential for full human development. This aspect is also very important for our time”, he said. “Too often it seems that people are afraid to leave space for the religious dimension of life, which is inherent to the human heart, and would like to hide it in the private world of the individual. Such an attitude greatly impoverishes educational activity”.

Mother Verna’s message “invites us not to be afraid to educate people in the demanding choices which Jesus continues to present in the Church”. She was a pioneer of female education, who worked towards “the authentic promotion of women in the society of the day”.

“In collaboration with the civil authorities of her time, Mother Antonia strove for a form of education … that could reach the largest number of children and help them to develop all dimensions of their personality, completely and harmoniously”.

Cardinal Bertone laid emphasis on the many primary and secondary schools founded by the new blessed and her congregation, the Institute of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception. This, he said, “calls upon us to consider, today more than every, the role of institutions which enjoy parity with State schools as a factor enriching a nation’s education”. The schools run by the Sisters of Charity in Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa have produced “generations of teachers who have been, and continue to be, true educators whose contribution to the cultural and social development of their countries is difficult to evaluate and too often forgotten”.