The Pope’s installation at the Lateran basilica, our Mother Church

Yesterday, May 7, 2005, HH Pope Benedict XVI, took possession of the Lateran basilica, Rome. This majestic basilica, dedicated to Jesus Christ, the Most Holy Saviour, is in fact the cathedral church of Rome, and as such it is the bishop of Rome’s special church. St George’s basilica, in Gozo, is spiritually joined to it and bears it heraldic arms. The Lateran basilica is the mother church of all the churches of Rome and the world. This spiritual motherhood, peculiar to the bishop of Rome’s cathedral church, constitutes a particular affinity with that of St George’s basilica within the ecclesiastical organism of Gozo. In his pastoral letter of April 20, 1903, the then bishop of Gozo, Fra John Mary Camilleri O.E.S.A. speaks of St George’s as the church to whom all the Parishes of Gozo know their existence and thus from whom all the Catholics of Gozo obtained “great spiritual benefit”. For this reason, the Holy Father’s pastoral visit to San Giovanni in Laterano, as the Lateran basilica is known, is of particular interest to the parishioners of St George’s. Since March 10, 1968, St George’s church has been aggregated, joined, to the Holy Father’s cathedral church. The formal request for this aggregation had been forwarded by the bishop of Gozo, HL Mgr Nicholas J. Cauchi, on February 9, of the same year. There are other churches in the world that are likewise aggregated to the Lateran cathedral including Mexico City’s basilica of Guadalupe since 1754. Two old chapels, one in Gozo and another one in Malta, seem to have been at some time similarly aggregated, and the one in Malta bears an inscription to this effect, but nothing much is known about the origin and nature of their association with the Lateran church and it seems that this association has long fallen into disuse. Recently, two other parish churches from Gozo have taken up the idea of an aggregation with a Roman basilica. The basilica of Nadur, a parish since 1689 and dedicated to Sts Peter and Paul, acquired an aggregation with St Peter's basilica, while the basilica of Xaghra, likewise a parish since 1689 and dedicated to Maria Bambina, acquired an aggregation with the basilica of St Mary's Major. Both of these parishes are spiritual offspring of St George's parish. The first time that a delegation representing the Lateran patriarchal Chapter of Canons came to the Maltese islands happened in 1978 when three Canons came to Gozo for the special celebrations connected with the 300th anniversary of the inauguration of the extant building of St George’s church. Informal contacts have continued. The Chapter of Canons of St George’s continues to follow the liturgical calendar of the Lateran basilica and the bishop of Gozo, as Dean of St George’s, presides Pontifical High Mass on the liturgical commemoration of the Lateran basilica’s titular dedication, August 6, and actual consecration, November 9. For the last few years, the High Mass associated with August 6 has been transferred to Easter Sunday. On the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI’s installation at the Lateran basilica, prayers are being said for the Holy Father’s august ministry in the Universal Church.

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