For this week’s homily, please watch the video below.

As we all know we have a new Pope Leo XIV.  I can’t remember any pope in my time – and I’ve lived under 5 popes–  receiving the media coverage he has gotten.  As the media keeps reminding us, he is head of about 1.3 billion Catholics in the world.

What does the pope do? What does it mean when we say he is head of 1.3 billion Catholics in the world? What does leading the Catholic Church mean?

I ask these questions because our first reading at Mass today describes a very important event that took place at the beginning of our church. It  determined, not only what a pope should do, but the very nature of our church and how we should understand it.  (Acts 15:1-29)

Our first reading describes what’s called  the Council of Jerusalem, a council that took place in Jerusalem after the resurrection of Jesus, as his follower began to bring  his message to the world of their time. 

A problem arose. Jesus and his first followers were all Jews, firmly attached to their Jewish tradition.  Jesus never went beyond Palestine;  his ministry was mostly to Jewish people.  But after his resurrection, he told his followers to go to all nations with his message. Make disciples of all nations. 

Some of his followers thought that meant reaching out only to Jews all over the world. Actually, the first outreach of Jesus’ disciples began in Jewish synagogues. For some of his followers to follow Jesus you had to first be a Jew.  Paul and Barnabas, mentioned in today’s reading. thought otherwise as many non-Jews, Gentiles, were drawn to follow Jesus. Peter, after some hesitation,  thought the same thing, 

To settle the matter, all the apostle gathered in Jerusalem to decide. Their decision– which they saw as coming from the Holy Spirit as well as from themselves– was that all people, not just the Jews, were called to follow Jesus. You didn’t  have to join a synagogue or follow Jewish practices. God is the God of all, all nations, all peoples, are races. God is the God of heaven and earth.

That decision is why our church is called the Catholic Church. Our church is by nature a global church. It’s all over the world. 

The universality of our church may be a special gift to the world today, when wars are pitting one country against another, when so many countries are closing their borders in fear of foreigners, when nations are looking only to their own interests. We’re living in a divided world. It’s longing for a voice reminding  us of our common humanity.  We’re all children of God.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .

Our church is called to be a model of what the world should be. A home for all, whatever your race, or color, or place on the social ladder. I think that’s one reason Leo XIV got the worldwide welcome he did. 

What does a pope do? He shepherd’s a church that’s a home for all. He proclaims the message of Jesus, God’s only Son. That’s why Pope Leo was chosen, not  because he’s an American, but because he’s a missionary at home in the world itself.

On the day of his election, the new pope told the cardinals who elected him to join him in a mission to the world. On the day after, he asked the crowds in St. Peter’s square to join him too on that mission, to follow Jesus Christ and bring his message to all peoples.

 We belong to the Catholic Church. We have to keep our church catholic. We have to be catholic ourselves.