PHOTOS: Pope Francis, synod pray where first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2024 / 16:00 pm

Pope Francis and Synod on Synodality participants, including non-Catholic delegates, prayed together Friday evening at the site of the first Christian martyrdoms in Rome.

The ecumenical prayer vigil Oct. 11 was held in Roman Protomartyrs Square inside Vatican City. The square is believed to be at the site where St. Peter and other first Christian martyrs of Rome were killed under the order of Emperor Nero. A plaque in the pavement marks the spot where St. Peter was crucified.

During the 45-minute ecumenical service, which included sung chants, prayers, and litanies, attendees held candles with drip protectors imprinted with an image of the 15th-century painting “Mater Ecclesiae” (“Mother of the Church”). 

Music at the prayer vigil was led by a small choir accompanied by several instruments, including a guitar, flute, and clarinet. The hymns came from the ecumenical Taizé Community and included “Laudate Omnes Gentes” and “Bless the Lord, My Soul.”

Pope Francis led those present in praying the Our Father at the conclusion of the service. He did not give a meditation on Christian unity as originally planned, but the prepared text was afterward published on the Vatican website.

In the reflection, the pope quoted John 17:22, which says: “The glory that you have given me I have given them.”

“These words from Jesus’ prayer before his passion can be applied above all to the martyrs, who received glory for the witness they bore to Christ,” he wrote.

“In this place, we remember the first martyrs of the Church of Rome. This basilica was built on the site where their blood was shed; the Church was built upon their blood. May these martyrs strengthen our certainty that, in drawing closer to Christ, we draw closer to one another, sustained by the prayers of all the saints of our churches, now perfectly one by their sharing in the paschal mystery,” he prayed.

Francis also said Christian unity and synodality are connected: “In both processes, it is not so much a matter of creating something as it is of welcoming and making fruitful the gift we have already received.”

“And what does the gift of unity look like?” he said. “The synod experience is helping us to discover some aspects of this gift.”

Calling division among Christians a “scandal,” Pope Francis added that the synod is an opportunity “to overcome the walls that still exist between us.”

“Let us focus,” he continued, “on the common ground of our shared baptism, which prompts us to become missionary disciples of Christ, with a common mission. The world needs our common witness; the world needs us to be faithful to our common mission.”

There are 16 fraternal delegates, representatives of non-Catholic Christian faiths, participating in the synod meeting this month — four more than in 2023.

The 2024 additions are representatives of the Patriarchate of Alexandria and all of Africa, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Mennonite Conference.

Other fraternal delegates include Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, the Eastern Orthodox co-president of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church; and Anglican Bishop Martin Warner of Chichester, co-chair of the English-Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee.

Fraternal delegates participate but do not vote in the synodal assembly.