One line, from Peter to now

When Catholics speak of the Pope, we mean the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Saint Peter. The line is unbroken. From the day Christ said to Simon, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (Matthew 16:18), to the white smoke that rose over the Sistine Chapel in May 2025, the Church has had one visible head on earth, and that head sits in the chair of Peter at Rome.

Pope Leo XIV was elected in May 2025, the first American to be elected to the See of Peter. The Diocese of Shrewsbury welcomed him with a pastoral letter from Bishop Davies, read at all Masses on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, 11 May 2025.

"On Thursday, an outburst of joy marked the announcement that we have a new Pope. This joy was known before we even knew the name or had glimpsed the kindly face of Pope Leo XIV. It was the announcement that we had a Pope that was the source of this joy."

(Bishop Mark Davies, Pastoral Letter on Welcoming Pope Leo XIV, 11 May 2025)

Apostolic succession, in plain terms

Christ chose twelve Apostles. He gave them his authority to preach, forgive sins, baptise, and celebrate the Eucharist (Matthew 28:18-20; John 20:21-23). Before they died, they laid hands on other men and ordained them as bishops, and those bishops ordained more, in a continuous line that reaches every Catholic bishop today.

The Catechism puts it this way: "In order that the mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, the apostles consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun" (CCC §861). This passage of authority through the laying on of hands is what we mean by apostolic succession.

Bishop Davies stands in this line. So did Bishop James Brown, the founding bishop of Shrewsbury, hurriedly consecrated in 1850. Each ordination is a real link in a real chain.

Why a Pope at all

If every bishop has the apostolic line, why does the Bishop of Rome have a special role? Because Christ gave Peter, alone among the Twelve, the keys.

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."

(Matthew 16:18-19)

Peter went to Rome. He died there, crucified upside down on the Vatican hill, around the year 64. He was buried beneath what is now the high altar of Saint Peter's Basilica. The Catechism is direct: the Roman Pontiff has "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church" (CCC §882).

Pope Leo XIV and Shrewsbury

Bishop Davies marked the connection between the new Pope and our own founding directly. The Diocese of Shrewsbury was set up in 1851 by Pope Pius IX, after the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales the previous year. Pope Leo XIV stands in that same line of Pius's successors.

"It is with such faith, loyalty and human affection that we welcome Pope Leo XIV, our thirteenth Holy Father since his predecessor Pope Pius IX founded the Shrewsbury Diocese in 1851."

(Bishop Mark Davies, Pastoral Letter on Welcoming Pope Leo XIV)

Thirteen popes. One Church. One Shrewsbury Diocese, now in its 175th year, set up under one of them, governed in communion with each one since.

The Pope is not a celebrity

The Bishop tells a small story in the same letter:

"Following a previous papal election, I was asked at a petrol station whether I 'liked' the new Pope. This is a strange question for a Catholic, akin to being asked whether you 'like' your father or mother! The Pope is not a celebrity, a politician nor a public personality whose popularity may grow or fade."

(Bishop Mark Davies)

The Pope is a father in faith. We pray for him, we listen to him, we are in communion with him. The first thing we saw at the conclave, the Bishop noted, was not the new Pope's face but the Cross of Christ carried onto the balcony of Saint Peter's. The Pope stands behind that Cross, never in front of it.

What this means for your Sunday

Every Mass anywhere in the world includes a prayer for "Leo our Pope, and Mark our Bishop, and all the bishops, with all the clergy and the entire people your Son has gained for you." When you say it at Shrewsbury Cathedral on Sunday, or at Saint Werburgh's in Chester, or in any parish across the diocese, you are praying yourself into a structure two thousand years old, holding fast to the keys Christ gave to Peter.

A next step

This Sunday, listen at Mass for the Eucharistic Prayer. Hear the names: Leo, Mark. Then read Bishop Davies' full pastoral letter on Pope Leo XIV at dioceseofshrewsbury.org. If you can, light a candle in the Cathedral or at Saint Joseph's Stockport, our Eucharistic Shrine, for the Holy Father. Christ promised the gates of hell would not prevail against this Church. Pray today for the man who holds the keys.