“Being at the Heart of the Church” | Postcards from Rome 2026

I shall dwell in your tent forever, and hide in the shelter of your wings. For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. (Psalm 61:5-6).

Our time in Rome has been nothing but spiritually fruitful! We have been truly blessed to have this unique experience of being immersed in the Church’s richness, in her history and her heritage. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we have been privileged to make all these wonderful encounters with the Pope and the many cardinals and bishops who have gathered this past week for the Mass for the Imposition of the Pallium on the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, the two bedrocks of the Roman Church.

I was struck by the prominent baldacchino of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is a massive structure. As an interior architectural feature of a basilica or church, the baldacchino (or canopy) typically covers the main altar, emphasizing its importance and distinguishing it from the side altars and chapels. Theologically, it symbolizes the unique presence of God overshadowing the altar—like that pillar of cloud which accompanied the Tabernacle of the Old Testament. The connection is even more clear especially during the celebration of the Mass: Christ’s real and substantial presence in the bread and wine offered, blessed and consecrated. This supreme presence is made manifest through the action of the Holy Spirit, who breathes divine life into the hearts and souls of all the baptized. Fittingly, the design beneath the canopy of St. Peter’s—and indeed the first thing that catches the pilgrim’s eye upon entering the sacred space—is that of the Holy Spirit.

As we prayed through the many churches in Rome, I am awestruck with being, as it were, at the ‘heart’ of the Church. One could really feel the Church being “embodied” — the encounter with the Pope, the visible head of the Church; meeting many bishops, priests, and lay faithful that make up the members of the body. There is an incarnational reality: that what is transcendent, that what is beyond the grasp of the human mind or understanding is somehow able to be made present in the immanent, in the worldly, and all this is possible because God entered the world of human history. Now that Christ has sent us the Spirit, we are called to live out our part and have a share in the work of God (opus Dei) in the many spheres of society and offer our gifts and our very selves at the service of one another. In this, St. Paul writes quite well: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Cor 12:12-13).

Jose Cortez
Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee