Peter and Paul are so important that when June 29 occurs on a Sunday, it gets precedence over the regular Sunday Mass prayers and readings. This does not happen very often. The last time was in 2014, and before that it was 2008. (It occurs every 6, 5, 6, and 11 years) So celebrating this Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on a Sunday is not something with which we have much familiarity.
After leaving Jerusalem, Peter was the first bishop of Antioch (Antakya now) in modern day Turkey. (In the New Testament, this Antioch is in Syria in Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3; modern borders have changed. There is a different Antioch in Acts in Pisidia) From Antioch, Peter went to Rome and since Jesus had given Peter the responsibility of leading the entire Church, the successor of Peter and Bishop of Rome since then has primacy over all dioceses in the world. One aspect of the Pope’s role as leader is to keep the Church united. One way in which we see this unity is that every year all new archbishops ordained since June 29 the previous year or promoted from bishop to archbishop since June 29 the previous year, usually about forty, concelebrate Mass with the Pope in Rome today and receive the pallium. The pallium is a circular band of white wool that the Pope and archbishops wear over their shoulders when saying Mass. The pallium reminds the archbishops of their unity with the Pope. We are not the Irish Catholic Church; we are the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. Since the pallium is made from wool, it reminds us of images of Jesus the good shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulders.
We also see the Pope hoping for unity between us Catholics and other Christian churches because every year for this celebration of Peter and Paul, a delegation from the Eastern Orthodox Church is sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to visit the Pope. The Patriarch of Constantinople is the spiritual leader of seventeen or more independent orthodox churches that split from Rome in AD 1054. Speaking to that delegation yesterday, Pope Leo said, “the resumption of genuine dialogue between the sister Churches of Rome and Constantinople was made possible through courageous and farsighted steps taken by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras . . . As I think back with gratitude on the progress made thus far, I assure you of my desire to persevere in the effort to restore full visible communion between our Churches. The attainment of this goal can only come about, with God’s help, through a continued commitment to respectful listening and fraternal dialogue.” (Pope Leo XIV, June 28, 2025)
St. Paul spent much energy maintaining unity in the Church. Some of the early Jewish Christians were exerting pressure to make non-Jewish people who accepted Jesus as the Messiah be obedient to certain Old Testament laws, in effect, to require them to become Jews before becoming Christians. Paul did his best to persuade his fellow Jewish people that this was not necessary, that non-Jewish people did not have to go through a kind of intermediary step of obedience to all Old Testament laws before becoming Christian—for non-Jewish people what is necessary is believing in Jesus. So we all have much for which to be grateful to Paul.
Paul has had a lasting effect on the Church in many other ways. Some of Paul’s letters are the oldest or first documents in the New Testament; he wrote them even before the Gospels were written. About one third of the New Testament is comprised of Paul’s writings. He wrote his letters to churches, or perhaps we could parishes or dioceses, that he founded in Asia and Europe during his missionary journeys. When he heard of problems developing in those churches after he left them and was ministering elsewhere, he wrote back to them to try to help them remain faithful to the Gospel. Some of the churches he founded needed little follow-up help but one in particular, Corinth, needed a lot of encouragement as we see in his letters to the Corinthians. For some reason, the Corinthians seemed to be always causing trouble. It’s obvious the Corinthian Christians were a source of stress for Paul. But as a result of trying to correct the Corinthians, we now have teaching in those letters of Paul that otherwise we would not have. This is just one of many examples of God turning everything to good.
Peter and Paul crossed paths a few times during their ministry but ended their lives in the same place around the same time, in Rome. On July 18, AD 64, Emperor Nero had a fire started in the Circus Maximus in Rome to advance his ambitious building project (See Tacitus Annals Book 15, 38-41). The fire spread and after a week two thirds of Rome had burned. The Christians were blamed. Peter was crucified upside-down just feet away to the left of where St. Peter’s Basilica now stands and was buried nearby and the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica is over his tomb (a tradition says Peter asked to be crucified upside-down because he was unworthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus). Paul was beheaded between the city of Rome and the sea (one early source is Tertullian Against Marcion, Book 5, VIII, chapter 15) and buried nearby and the main altar of the Basilica of St. Paul’s outside the Walls is over his tomb. In the second reading today, he knows that his execution is at hand (2 Tim 4). (A later source with more general background information is Eusebius Ecclesiastical History Book 2, Chapter 22) In life and in death, Saints Peter and Paul were faithful to Jesus and their fidelity to Jesus continues to bear fruit for us today.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for June 29: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul
Related Homilies: on Saint Peter
Peter grew to accept the Cross 2011
Saint Peter healing scandal and strengthening the flock 2010
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church 2008
Jesus forgives Peter and restores him
on Saint Paul:
Paul and suffering 2021
Timothy 2016
Paul as spiritual father to his converts 2014