By Robert Moynihan
Mass in St. Peter’s Square for the inauguration of the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV on May 18, 2025 (Galazka photo)
On May 18 the Inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate was celebrated. It was an occasion laden with symbolism.
One of those symbols is the Fisherman’s ring; as Pope Leo prepared to receive it, the choir in St. Peter’s Basilica chanted the nearly 500-year-old hymn set to music by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), perhaps the greatest of all Roman composers of sacred music.
Here are the Latin words, with an English translation:
Tu es Petrus (You are Peter)
et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam (and upon this rock I will build my Church)
et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam. (and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.)
Et tibi dabo claves regni caelorum. (And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.)
Quodcumque ligaveris super terram, erit ligatum et in caelis, (Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.)
et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum et in caelis. (and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.) Amen.
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