This afternoon, Pope Leo XIV presided over Holy Mass in the Church of San Anselmo on the Aventine on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of its dedication, a temple promoted by Leo XIII as a sign of the vitality of Benedictine monasticism.
In his homily, the Pontiff highlighted the importance of keeping Christ at the center of life and the ecclesial mission, inviting the Benedictines to be “a beating heart” within the monastic world, and to unite liturgy, study, and pastoral life in a single vocation of service.
We leave below the complete message from Leo XIV:
«You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church» (Mt 16:18). Dear brothers and sisters, we have heard these words of Jesus as we recall the 125th anniversary of the dedication of this church, so desired by Pope Leo XIII, who promoted its construction.
In his intentions, this construction, along with that of the annexed International College, was meant to contribute to strengthening the Benedictine presence in the Church and in the world, through an ever greater unity within the Benedictine Confederation, an objective for which the office of Primate Abbot was also introduced. And this because he was convinced that his ancient Order could be of great help for the good of the entire People of God in a moment full of challenges, as was the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.
In fact, from its origins, monasticism has been a “frontier” reality, which has impelled brave men and women to establish foci of prayer, work, and charity in the most remote and inaccessible places, often transforming desolate areas into fertile and rich lands, from an agricultural and economic point of view, but above all spiritual. Thus, the monastery has increasingly characterized itself as a place of growth, peace, hospitality, and unity, even in the darkest periods of history.
Even in our time, challenges to face are not lacking. The sudden changes of which we are witnesses provoke and challenge us, giving rise to hitherto unprecedented problems. This celebration reminds us that, just like the apostle Peter, and along with him Benedict and many others, we too will be able to respond to the demands of the vocation received only by placing Christ at the center of our existence and our mission, starting from that act of faith that makes us recognize in Him the Savior and translating it into prayer, study, and the commitment of a holy life.
Here all this is carried out in various ways: first, in the liturgy; then, in the Lectio divina, in research, in pastoral care, with the participation of monks from all parts of the world and with openness to clerics, religious, nuns, and laity from the most diverse origins and conditions. The monastery, the Athenaeum, the Liturgical Institute, and the pastoral activities related to the Church, in accordance with the teachings of St. Benedict, must thus grow ever more in synergy as an authentic “school of the Lord’s service” (St. Benedict, Rule, Prologue, 45).
For this reason, I have thought of the complex in which we find ourselves as a reality that must aspire to become the beating heart of the great body of the Benedictine world, with the church at the center, according to the teachings of St. Benedict.
The first reading (cf. Ez 43:1-2.4-7a) has presented us with the image of the river that flows from the Temple. This image harmonizes very well with that of the heart that pumps the vital sap of blood to the body, so that each member can receive nourishment and strength for the benefit of others (cf. 1 Cor 12:20-27); as well as with that of the spiritual building spoken of in the second reading, founded on the solid rock that is Christ (cf. 1 Pt 2:4-9).
In the industrious hive of Sant’Anselmo, may this be the place from which everything starts and to which everything returns to find verification, confirmation, and deepening before God, as St. John Paul II recommended during his visit to the Pontifical University on the occasion of the centenary of its foundation. Referring to its holy patron, he said: “St. Anselm reminds us all […] that the knowledge of divine mysteries is not so much a conquest of human genius, but rather a gift that God makes to the humble and to believers” (Discourse, June 1, 1986).
He referred, as has been said, to the teachings of the Doctor of Aosta, but we want to hope that this is also the prophetic message that this institution transmits to the Church and to the world, as the fulfillment of the mission that we have all received, to be the people that God has acquired for Himself to proclaim the wonderful works of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (cf. 1 Pt 2:9).
Dedication is the solemn moment in the history of a sacred building in which it is consecrated as a place of encounter between space and time, between the finite and the infinite, between man and God: a door open to eternity, in which the soul finds an answer to the “tension between the conjuncture of the moment and the light of time, of the broader horizon […] that opens us to the future as the final cause that attracts” (Francis, Ap. Exhort. Evangelii gaudium, 222) in the encounter between fullness and the limit that accompanies our earthly journey.
Vatican Council II describes all this in one of its most beautiful pages, when it defines the Church as “human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, fervent in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the world and yet a pilgrim; […] in such a way, however, that what is human in it is ordered and subordinated to what is divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, the present reality to the future city, toward which we are making our way” (Const. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 2).
It is the experience of our life and of the life of every man and woman in this world, in search of that ultimate and fundamental answer that “flesh and blood” cannot reveal, but only the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mt 16:17); in short, in need of Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). We are called to seek Him and to bring Him to all those we meet, grateful for the gifts He has granted us and, above all, for the love with which He has preceded us (cf. Rom 5:6). This temple will then become more and more a place of joy, in which the beauty of sharing with others what has been freely received is experienced (cf. Mt 10:8).