Sts Peter and Paul - Pax Romana and Pax Christiana In the name of the Father ... In a sermon for today's feast, the fifth century Pope, St Leo the Great contrasted the Rome founded by Romulus and Remus with that founded by Peter and Paul. The Rome of Romulus and Remus - pagan Rome - founded in 753 BC, expanded by wielding the sword to rule the Mediterranean world. The Rome of Peter and Paul - Christian Rome - founded in 64 AD, expanded by preaching the truth to rule the whole world. As St Paul writes: For the word of God is living and effectual and more piercing than any two-edged sword.1 Pagan Rome conquered many peoples, but herself became enslaved by imbibing the errors of those whom she conquered, thus perpetuating the worst kind of slavery. Christian Rome conquered many peoples by liberating them from the darkness of ignorance and error. At her zenith, Christian Rome under the Pontiffs was far more resplendent than pagan Rome had ever been, either under the senate or the emperors. Rome advanced far more through Christian peace than through pagan war. It was the Christian Gospel which Peter and Paul brought to Rome, which Rome imbibed in their very blood, which liberated Rome herself so that she in turn - having brought the world into subjection by the sword, bringing the pax Romana - could liberate the world with the truth, bringing the pax Christiana. She who was the teacher of error, the bearer of darkness and conflict, became the teacher of truth, the bearer of light and peace. St Paul wrote to the Romans of the apostles' preaching: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world:2 Indeed Paul's vision of the pax Christiana was ... to bring all nations into the obedience of faith,3 an obedience which is truly liberating, as Our Lord teaches: You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.4 In our own day, as the world seems to be sliding back into the worst excesses of paganism, the Church founded by Our Lord seems to have forgotten her true missionary constitution, has become unsure of herself, is timid and seems more enamoured with temporal concerns than with bringing souls out of darkness and into the light. May her twin princes - Peter and Paul - intercede with Our Lord on her behalf, that she who was divinely established the guardian of the truth and a light to the nations may again shine out resplendent, and rediscover her missionary spirit - courageous, zealous, unwavering, indefatigable.

1 Heb 4:12; c.f., Rev 1:16, 2:16 2 Rom 10:18, c.f., Ps 19:4 3 Rom 1:5; 15:18; 16:19; 16:26 4 Jn 8:32