The Gates of Hell

 “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

I have read much about the corrupt Popes with mistresses and children. Then there were Popes who spent more time power-politicking than attending to the affairs of the Church. There was a Pope who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured. The list is long and wearisome. 

That is why God spoke to St. Francis in the dilapidated chapel of San Damiano, “Repair my Church, which has fallen into disrepair.” God was giving Francis a mission to return the Church to the radical simplicity of the gospel, to a life of poverty and prayer. 

In the earlier days of persecution, becoming a Pope was a quick death sentence. Pope Cornelius was totally dedicated to Christ. He was exiled and martyred in 253. Pope Clement I or Saint Clement of Rome, while imprisoned, led a ministry among fellow prisoners. He was executed by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. So many Popes died as martyrs from St. Peter in c.67 to Pope John I who was imprisoned and starved to death in 526. 

The Church has saints and sinners just as we can find in the genealogy of Jesus, and His chosen disciples. Today, there are many forces out to destroy it. There are attacks from the inside and outside. But one thing is for certain, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Mt.16:18)