(Twenty-first Sunday of the Year (A): This homily was given on August 23, 2026 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Isaiah 22:19-23; Psalm 138:1-8; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Twenty-first Sunday 2026]
In a Catholic News Service article that I came across the other day, it says this:
Founded in 1970 by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to reforms following the Second Vatican Council, the Society of St. Pius X grew into an international traditionalist movement with hundreds of priests, seminarians and schools around the world.
While best known for celebrating the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass, the society's disagreements with Rome extend far beyond liturgy and center on its rejection of key teachings of Vatican II, objecting to its declaration on religious liberty.
I mention this because a few weeks ago, this group ordained four
bishops without the approval of the Pope in Rome, which is a very big “no
no”. Bishops need to be approved by the
Holy Father before they are consecrated.
That didn’t happen here, which means that those four bishops—as well as
the two bishops who ordained them—are excommunicated from the Church.
This is very serious business.
But it illustrates an important point: the point is that everyone
has a pope! Everyone, without
exception! Everyone has a pope in the
sense that everyone has an authority in their life who guides them, who defines
the meaning of human existence for them, and who teaches them right from
wrong. I suppose at this point we’d have
to say that for those six excommunicated bishops and all those associated with
the Society of St. Pius X, the current “pope” is not Leo XIV. It’s Fr. Davide Pagliarani. He’s the priest who’s the Superior General of
the group at the present time.
But non-Catholics and
non-Christians also have their “popes”. They
have their sources of authority. Presbyterians
have a pope; Anglicans have a pope; Baptists have a pope; people who call
themselves “non-denominational” have a pope; Muslims, Buddhists and even
atheists have a pope!
A couple of years ago, I gave a
homily in which I spoke about some of the modern “popes” who have lots of
followers in the world today. For
example, there’s what I would call the “Feel-Good Pope.” Those who follow him live almost exclusively
by their emotions. If it feels good,
then in their estimation it must be okay.
Or how about the “Gallup Pope?”
He’s named after the famous polltaker.
Those who follow him form their views and attitudes based on what the
majority says. Thus if 85% of Catholics
polled say they think artificial contraception is morally acceptable, those who
follow the Gallup Pope immediately add their names to the 85%.
A very popular pope among young
people today is what I would call the “Peer Pope.” He lives, and acts, and speaks through their
friends. Whatever these friends say, is
considered to be the truth.
Or how about the “Pop Pope?” (Try saying that one quickly 10 times!) Those who follow the Pop Pope are those who
are unduly influenced by the ideas of contemporary “pop” culture—ideas which
come through the music they hear, through the media, the press, the Hollywood
crowd, sports heroes and self-help gurus.
Of course, most of all, followers of the Pop Pope are influenced these
days by the ideas they encounter on social media.
Because everyone knows, if it’s
on X or Instagram or Facebook it’s got to be true. Right?
Sometimes, for our non-Catholic
Christian brothers and sisters, a Protestant evangelist or theologian takes on
the role of pope. Think, for example, of how many people followed the late
Billy Graham as if he had been designated the authoritative interpreter of
God’s Word! These people would have
denied that they believed in a pope; and yet, they listened to Graham as if he
was God’s appointed mouthpiece here on earth.
Consequently they obeyed him as good Catholics will obey the Holy
Father.
Even those who have no religious
affiliation whatsoever have a pope—in the sense that they have a person or
group of people to whom they look for guidance and direction. Believe it or not, there are some who look to
Karl Marx in that way. Ultimately, they want to destroy American culture as we
know it and create some kind of socialist, Marxist utopia—with themselves in
charge, of course.
It’s scary what’s going on out
there these days!
Personally, I want to pick for my
pope the one that Jesus Christ picked.
Because that’s the right pope! In
today’s Gospel text from Matthew 16, we see Jesus making his choice. He says to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build by Church, and the
gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Here Jesus gives papal authority to Peter—the
authority of “spiritual fatherhood” in his Church. And then Jesus indicates that this authority
is to be passed on to others in the future when he says, “I give you [Peter] the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” In Isaiah 22 (the text we heard in our first
reading today) the “keys” symbolized dynastic authority—authority which would
be passed on from one person to another.
The authority Eliakim received in the kingdom of David was the authority
of an established office. And so it is
with the papacy. Peter’s authority
didn’t die when he did. It was passed on
to Linus, then to Cletus and Clement . . . and finally to Pope Leo in 2026.
Every once in a while someone
will ask us, “Do you believe in the pope?”
But, as I’ve hopefully made clear in this homily, that’s really the
wrong question. The right question is, “WHICH
POPE do you believe in?”—since there are so many possibilities.
If we are ever asked a question
like that, our response as Catholics should be, “I believe in the pope that
Jesus Christ gave to his Church. I
believe in the pope that Jesus talked about in the 16th chapter of
Matthew’s gospel. I believe in the pope
who’s the modern-day successor of St. Peter.
I believe in the pope who has the keys to the kingdom of heaven—because
that’s where I want to live forever.”
