Tu illum adiuva: a new pontificate marked by the saints

🇮🇹 Versione italiana

Sunday, 18 May 2025, in St Peter’s Square, one of the most solemn and meaningful liturgical celebrations in the life of the Catholic Church will take place: the Eucharistic Celebration for the beginning of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, by which Pope Leo XIV officially inaugurates his service as Successor of Peter. This solemn rite, rich in symbolism and deeply rooted in the Tradition of the Church, constitutes the new Pontiff’s first public act and marks his acceptance of the Petrine ministry in the universal communion of the Church.

The Meaning of the Rite

This rite is not a coronation, as some newspapers inaccurately report, but the beginning of the Pope’s universal pastoral ministry. It takes place in St Peter’s Basilica and in the square before it, the visible heart of Christendom. In this way, the spiritual and historical bond with the Apostle Peter is underlined – his tomb lies beneath the high altar of the Basilica, and his martyrdom nourished the nascent Church in Rome.

A Liturgy Rich in Signs

At the beginning of the celebration, Pope Leo XIV, accompanied by the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, will descend to the Tomb of St Peter for a moment of silent prayer. Then, the deacons will process with three essential elements of the rite: the Pallium, the Fisherman’s Ring, and the Book of the Gospels, which will be placed upon the altar. The procession to the altar will be accompanied by the solemn Laudes Regiæ, an ancient litany invoking the saints and martyrs of the Church of Rome, a sign of the communion of saints and the Church’s apostolic roots.

Benedict XVI, in the homily of his Inauguration Mass, said:  “Three times in these intense days the Litany of the Saints has accompanied us […] and again today, as we sang it once more with the invocation: Tu illum adiuva – support the new successor of St Peter. Each time, I felt this prayerful chant as a great consolation. […] Once more, we were comforted as we entered solemnly into the Conclave, to elect the one whom the Lord had chosen. How could we recognise his name? How could 115 bishops, from all cultures and nations, find the one to whom the Lord wished to entrust the mission of binding and loosing? Again, we knew: we are not alone, we are surrounded, led, and guided by God’s friends. And now, at this moment, I, the weak servant of God, must take on this immense task, which truly surpasses all human ability. How can I do this? How will I be able? You all, dear friends, have just invoked the whole host of saints, represented by some of the great names in the history of God’s relationship with humanity. In this way, the awareness is rekindled in me as well: I am not alone. I do not have to bear alone what I could never carry by myself. The company of God’s saints protects, supports, and carries me. And your prayer, dear friends, your indulgence, your love, your faith, and your hope accompany me. For the communion of saints is not made up only of the great figures of the past whose names we know. We all are the communion of saints, we who are baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we who live from the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood, through which he wishes to transform us and make us like himself. Yes, the Church is alive – this is the wonderful experience of these days. Precisely in the sorrowful days of the Pope’s illness and death, this has been manifest to our eyes in a marvellous way: the Church is alive. And the Church is young. She carries within herself the future of the world and therefore also shows each of us the way to the future. The Church is alive and we see it: we experience the joy that the Risen Lord promised his own. The Church is alive – she is alive because Christ is alive, because he has truly risen.”

The Gospel of Mission

The Liturgy of the Word, set within the Easter season, will centre on the image of Christ as the cornerstone (Eph 2:20) and Peter as the visible foundation of the Church (Mt 16:18). The chosen Gospel passage (Jn 21:15–19) recounts the dialogue between Jesus and Peter on the shores of the lake, in which the Risen One, after the miraculous catch of fish, entrusts Peter with the task of tending the flock – the very foundation of the Pope’s pastoral ministry.

The Pallium and the Fisherman’s Ring

The high point of the celebration will be the conferral of the Petrine insignia. The Pallium, a narrow band of white wool with black crosses, symbolises the Good Shepherd who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders and denotes the direct bond with the Apostle Peter. It is imposed by a Cardinal Deacon, with an explicit reference to the Pope’s pastoral mission and the connection with Peter’s tomb. This is followed by the bestowal of the Fisherman’s Ring, the exclusive emblem of the Bishop of Rome, which recalls Peter’s vocation as a fisher of men. This ring, which from antiquity also served as a seal, symbolises the Pope’s mission to strengthen his brethren in the faith (Lk 22:32).

The Universal Embrace of the Church

Another moment of profound symbolic value will be the rite of obedience, during which twelve representatives of the People of God – men and women, religious and lay, from every continent – will express their communion with the new Pope. This gesture powerfully expresses the universality of the Church and the unity around the Successor of Peter. Contrary to what some media outlets have claimed, this is not a novelty. A similar rite took place during Benedict XVI’sinaugural Mass, in which “three Cardinals, a Bishop, a Priest, a Deacon, two Religious, two Spouses, and two Confirmed youths from different parts of the world” took part.

This act, rich in ecclesial meaning, strongly reaffirms that obedience and reverence to the Pope are not owed by clergy alone, but by all who form the Mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church (CCC 805). It is a visible sign of a Church which, in the diversity of its vocations, recognises in the Bishop of Rome the visible principle of unity.

The Heart of the Celebration: The Eucharist

The celebration will continue with the Eucharist, the culmination of the rite, during which the new Pontiff will ask God, through prayer, to be a shepherd after Christ’s own heart, able to lead the Church with strength and gentleness. The Roman Canon, the Eucharistic Prayer proper to the Church of Rome, will be recited as a sign of continuity in apostolic faith.

A New Beginning for the Church

The celebration will conclude with the final blessing and the acclamatory hymn “Ad multos annos!”, an invocation that Pope Leo XIV may serve the Church of God faithfully and for many years. It will be a moment of communion, of prayer, and of renewed hope for the faithful across the world, who look to Rome to behold the face of the universal Shepherd, called to lead the Christian people in the unity of faith and in charity.

18 May 2025 will thus be a historic date: not only for the Church, but for all humanity, which sees in the Pope a voice of peace, dialogue, and justice. Pope Leo XIV will officially begin his ministry: heir of Peter, spiritual guide of the universal Church.