Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year C)
Good Shepherd Sunday

Homily

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth

Sunday 11 May, 2025
St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth

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The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.

These words of Jesus are surely ringing in our ears this morning as we rejoice in the election of our new pope, Leo XIV. We are certainly thinking of him as the successor to Pope Francis, but he is also, and more truly, the successor to Saint Peter who, as we know, was martyred in Rome and buried in a public cemetery on the Vatican hill, outside the city walls. It is over Peter’s burial place that the great Basilica of Saint Peter was built.

It was to Simon Peter that the Risen Jesus spoke the words: feed my lambs, look after my sheep, feed my sheep. In our Catholic tradition we have always seen these words as an expression of the fundamental mission of the Bishop of Rome, which he shares, of course, with all those called to the ordained ministry of priest or bishop in particular.

According to the Gospel of Saint John, to which we listened last Sunday, these words of Jesus were a response to Simon Peter’s three-fold declaration of love for the Lord.  Simon, son of John, do you love me? Yes Lord, I love you.  More than the others do? Yes Lord, I do love you. Simon, do you love me? Lord, you know everything - you know that I love you.

Ultimately, this is the mission and the vocation of our new pope. We hope and pray that he will be wise, courageous, compassionate, large-hearted and full of faith. But in addition to all this, and underpinning all this, we need to know and see that he, like the Apostle Peter, is in love with the Lord Jesus. The reason, of course, is because it is the Lord’s Church that Pope Leo is called to lead and guide, it is the Lord’s sheep that he is called to shepherd, it is the Lord’s flock that he must look after. We are the sheep, or at least some of the sheep, who belong to our Good Shepherd. If we are to listen to his voice and follow him, we need the ministry of Peter, now embodied in Pope Leo, to help us and keep us on the right track. We can, with confidence, allow him to guide us if we know that he loves the Lord Jesus. This is certainly what we saw in Pope Francis. We eagerly wait to see how it will reveal itself in Pope Leo.

Our new Holy Father will not always do all this perfectly for he, like every single one of us, will have his weaknesses and frailties. This was true of Pope Francis, and of every pope before him right back to Saint Peter. It was Peter, after all, who when he first encountered Jesus fell on his knees before him and confessed himself, not with false humility but with courageous honesty, to be a sinful man.

This did not lead Jesus to walk away from Peter, or place someone more reliable at the head of the twelve apostles. On the contrary, Jesus kept Peter close to him, continued to trust him, and offered him his forgiveness and his love. As this was true of Peter, so was it true of Pope Francis and so will it be true of Pope Leo - and why? Because it is true for every disciple of Jesus - because it is true of each one of us.

During the twelve years of Pope Francis’s pontificate, in every Mass that was celebrated anywhere in the world, the Church prayed for Pope Francis. And now, from the first Masses celebrated after his election on Thursday afternoon, we have prayed and will pray for Pope Leo at every Mass celebrated in this Cathedral, in every parish in our archdiocese, and in every church and chapel, no matter how grand or how humble,  and no matter where that church, chapel or makeshift altar is, anywhere in the world. This morning, I invite us all to make this prayer, not just today but every time we celebrate the Eucharist, not simply a ritual act but a sincere expression of our faith and hope.

For us as Catholics love for the pope, expressed through our prayer for him, our respect for him and our communion of mind and heart with him, is an essential element of our identity. I have met our new pope before as Cardinal Prevost. If and when I meet him as Pope Leo, I will certainly assure him of the support and loyalty of the people of this archdiocese. I ask you to do all you can to ensure that when I do so, I can speak with confidence and in truth.

I would like, this morning, to conclude these few reflections with a prayer:

Father, may Pope Leo XIV, the successor of St. Peter, continue the mission of the Good Shepherd, which Your Son Jesus Christ entrusted to the head of the Apostles. May He preserve the unity of faith and the communion of the whole Church. May he hold us together in love and guide us according to your will.

We lift our prayers to You together with those of Mary, the Mother of your Church and the Help of Christians, as we pray together: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death."