The Church of St. John Lateran, March 2025, Rome, Italy.

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Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  1 Corinthians 3:16.

Click on words highlighted in red for further information.

Well, first things first. The full, correct name of the church pictured above is “The Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica, Metropolitan and Primatial Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World”. So, given that, perhaps there is less amazement at this church being the center of attention for today’s Sunday Mass! It is, in fact, the most important Catholic church in the world, even more so than St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City State. If you look closely at the picture above, you can glimpse the papal chair, or cathedra, behind the altar at the very back. Every cathedral in the world gets its name from the cathedra, or seat of the local bishop, that word coming from the Greek word for a chair, 𝜅𝛼𝜃𝛿𝜌𝛼 (kathdra); so every cathedral in the world will have that special chair, the cathedra, reserved exclusively for the bishop of that place alone. Hence the Bishop of Rome has a cathedra, and you will find it in the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome:

The Cathedra of the Bishop of Rome, Wikipedia, Church of St. John Lateran, Rome, Italy.

And, as you know, the Bishop of Rome is the Pope. And one little note: “Lateran” is the name of the land on which the church was built, once belonging to the Laterani, a Roman family whose palace once stood there. That has also given its name to several treaties and councils. The Lateran Treaty, for example, was the founding document of the Vatican City State, creating the smallest independent country in the world in 1929. Additionally, there are certain Catholic churches in Italy which are “extraterritorial”, meaning they are exempt from Italian taxes and other restraints. St. John Lateran is one of those sites. And note that the church’s title of “Most Holy Savior” allows this day to be considered a feast of the Lord, hence taking precedence over the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. 

So what is this all about? All very interesting (perhaps) but why is this considered so important that we will be thinking and remembering a church today, even if it is beautiful and uplifting? But if you are intrigued by a building which stands on the ground of the first legal Christian church in the western world on land donated by the Roman Emperor Constantine shortly after his victory in AD 312 at the Milvian Bridge, click here. Meanwhile, let us ponder on the symbolism and significance that St. John Lateran should have for us today. Note that the term “Archbasilica” is used only for this church, indicating its importance and uniqueness. It is also the “Mother” church as it was the first legal, openly recognized Christian church in the western world, consecrated by Pope Sylvester I in AD 324, and all Catholic churches were born of this first “mother”. 

The first idea which occurs about this church and the world is the link it represents between all Catholic churches in the world and the essential bond they all have in recognizing the pope as the head of the church in his capacity as Bishop of Rome. The pope claims to be the successor of St. Peter whom Christ himself called the “rock” on which he was to build his church (Matthew 16:18). So, in a sense, this church is the first western legal “rock” which spread throughout the world down to today, when on this day we acknowledge that it all began, once it was open to the world, with St. John Lateran. And note there are many moments in Scripture which equate human experience with the surroundings in which we live.  For example, Jesus is called the “corner stone”, the essential element in a building upon which everything rests, especially in an arch. Or we ourselves are described as the “living stones”. Or Christ and the apostles as the “foundation” of the church, and so on. And remember that we hardly ever see foundations; they are usually buried from sight, but woe betide the building that does not have a solid foundation, as seen in Matthew 7:24-27. And the history of the church of St. John Lateran certainly has had its major ups and downs, including fires in 1309 and 1361, an earthquake in 897 which nearly destroyed it, the neglect it suffered during the  period of the Avignon exile 1309-1377, and in the the notorious Sack of Rome in 1527 by the troops of the Catholic Emperor Charles V (not to mention the earlier two sackings by Vandals in the 5th century). And in July 1993 it even suffered a Mafia bombing which damaged part of the church. Yes, this old church has shared in good times and bad, just as we have, both through the centuries and the parallels in our own lives. Yet it has survived and still carries out its obligations as our church’s foundational building, the mother church of the Catholic world. And so do we, through good times and bad, confident that the Lord stands beside us, as he has done with his Church, symbolized above all by the first church of the Catholic world, St. John Lateran.

Click here to see Pope Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome, take possession of his diocese in May 2025. 

Installation of Pope Leo XIV, Bishop of Rome, May 25, 2025.

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