Why St. John Lateran, Not St. Peter’s Basilica, is ‘Mother of All Churches in the World’

National Catholic Register, 09 November 2020

The Lateran has been associated with the papacy for centuries longer than the Vatican has — a fact often emphasized by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis has made a subtle change in the past year which emphasizes the truth of the feast we mark on Nov. 9 — namely that St. John Lateran, not St. Peter’s in the Vatican, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.

In each diocese, the dedication anniversary of the local cathedral is observed throughout the diocese as a feast day. The universal Church celebrates the dedication anniversary of St. John Lateran as a feast day, the cathedral of Rome, to which all local Churches are united.

After the first centuries of persecution by state power, the Church gained the freedom to organize her life in the fourth century. From that time onward for a millennium, the Bishop of Rome had his residence at the “Lateran Palace” and his cathedral church was part of that complex. We know it as St. John Lateran, but it was originally dedicated in 324 and dedicated to Christ the Savior. Centuries later two additional patrons were added, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

The façade inscription (in Latin) dedicates the church to “Christ the Savior in honor of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist.” Its official title is a mouthful: “The Papal Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran.” More to the point, on the entrance to its portico are inscribed the words, “Mother and Head of all the Churches in the City and the World.”

After the Avignon exile in the 14th century, when the pope returned to Rome he did not live at the Lateran, which had been damaged by two fires in the interim. He eventually settled at the Vatican, where the pope has lived ever since. However, despite the grandeur of the new St. Peter’s, built in the 16th century, the pope never shifted his cathedral, which remains his cathedral church. Hence it is called an “archbasilica,” while St. Peter’s is a mere “basilica.”

Continue reading at the National Catholic Register.