September 2, 2026

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

You may remember a recent Sunday Mass when the Gospel reading spoke of Jesus questioning his apostles. He wondered if they truly realized just who he is. It was Peter who immediately answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This will be the perfect answer for all of us when Jesus turns to us and asks if we know just who He, Jesus, is. We are told in Scripture that when Jesus heard Peter answer, he felt that Peter has been inspired by God the Father.

Jesus decides then. He chooses Peter as the “rock,” and on this “rock” Jesus will build His Church. Jesus tells Peter that he will be given the keys to the Kingdom. Since then, we, Catholics, consider Peter to be our first pope. And there has been a pope ever since. During the centuries, the papacy of the Catholic Church has experienced a powerful history, and we admit some difficult problems. In our time, we believe that with God’s protection, the papacy has been very stable.

So, on that Sunday, my homily focused on the pope. I believe that we, ordinary Catholics, throughout the world, know more about our present pope, Pope Leo XIV, and all that the papacy means to our Catholic Church. We know what is going on at the Vatican. This has happened because of thigs like the internet and the modern immediate spread of news throughout the world. Nowadays, we are aware of the day-to-day activities of the pope. Through television, we can participate in the pope’s Mass each day, and Pope Leo is a frequent part of each of our days. In addition, Pope Leo is an American; he is like us in many ways.

This was not always true. When I was a teenager, our pope was Pope Pius XII. As I think back, he seemed very far away from us and our Catholic Church here in America. We only saw pictures of him, but he did not seem like part of our lives. We did not feel very close to Pope Pius XII.

The next two popes – Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI – did not seem very close to us either, however, they had a profound effect on the Catholic Church. The Council did change and transformed my priesthood, and I considered it a happy change. They were instrumental in bring the Second Vatican Council to the Church. I was a different priest because of these two popes, but they were not a part of my everyday life. I do remember that Pope Paul VI did come to this country to speak the United Nations, and he challenged those delegates from every country, saying, “No more war, war never again.”

Then, as you remember, the next conclave elected Pope John Paul I, who sadly died after only one month as pope. Then Pope John Paul II was elected. He became well known and liked here in this country; he visited here seven times. So, we saw him often. I remember especially his presence at the World Youth Day in Denver. But otherwise, he seemed far away from us.

Then Pope Benedict XVII and Pope Francis were elected, and we saw much more of them, and they became very involved in our Church. We saw lots of them; they brought peace and joy to our Catholic Church. They helped to draw us all closer together as Catholics.

Now, Pope Leo XIV is an American. So, increasingly the papacy has become part of our life as Catholics. We see news about the pope every day. So, we must pray often for our pope, our Holy Father. We must be ready to listen to his talks and read his writings and keep up with what is happening with him each day. We thank God for these opportunities to make the popes a part of all that we do as Catholics.