First, antipope John XVI was kept in the numbering sequence instead of being removed. Then, the number XX was skipped because pope John XXI counted John XIV twice.
But today we celebrate the man who started it all, Pope John, the first of his name. He was the first Pope to take the name of one of the Apostles. In fact, John is the only one of the Twelve who has lent his name to the Popes.
Pope John the first was elected to the Papacy in the year 523 and died just three years later on this date, May 17 526. John was very frail when he was elected to the papacy. Despite his poor health, he was asked by the Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great to travel from Rome to Constantinople to negotiate with the Emperor to restore the repentant arian heretics back to their positions in the church’s hierarchy.
Consider that for a moment. The frail Pope went on a diplomatic mission to the middle east to plead to the emperor on behalf of sinners, heretics, schismatics who had repented and sought to take-up again the mission of the one, true, church. Talk about a Pope of mercy.
So the frail Pope gets to Constantinople. The emperor receives the pontiff honorably, but refuses to grant the Pope’s request to restore the former Arian Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.
So the Pope returned to Rome. The Ostrogoth King, suspicious that the Pope had conspired with the Emperor, arrested the Pope, had his imprisoned in Ravenna, where he soon died from ill treatment and neglect. Pope John, first of his name, is honored as a martyr
I like that little story. The frail yet courageous Pope, embarking on a mission of mercy, suffers and dies for doing what was right, which at the time was controversial. Should heretic clergy be welcomed back into the fold if they repent? Can they be trusted? Many disagreed.
In the acts of the Apostles, we see Paul, Barnabas, and the Apostles gathering in Jerusalem—for the first Church Council—the Council of Jerusalem—to deal with one of the first controversies in Church history—do gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be counted among God’s faithful ones? They debate, they discern, they pray, they seek to understand the Word of God—the teachings of Jesus— under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The Church exists in a complex world—amidst Kings and Emperors vying for power with people’s lives, with complex moral and theological issues. Our job is to remain true to what we have received—the one true faith—to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word, like the frail Pope John traveling thousands of miles to plead for mercy.
“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit” may we show by our actions, attitudes, how we treat people, and our conviction for the Gospel, that we remain in Christ and Christ remains in us, by bearing good fruit for the kingdom today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.
God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.
Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.
Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.
May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.
That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.
O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.
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