To Fight the Good Fight | Pope's Day 2026

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D., Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines

Delivered by Msgr. Giuseppe Trentadue, Counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature

June 29, 2026 | Pope's Day Mass on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (The Manila Cathedral)

Dear Bishops,

Distinguished Ambassadors and other members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Msgr. Reginald Malicdem, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Manila, in the name of His Eminence Cardinal Jose Advincula who is in Rome now,

Msgr. Rolando dela Cruz, Rector of the Manila Cathedral,

Priests, consecrated women and men, members of Orders of Chivalry,

Papal awardees,

Brothers and sisters in Christ:

It is truly a joy and privilege for me to be with you at this evening’s Pope's Day Mass ... which we celebrate each June 29 in this beautiful cathedral of the Archdiocese of Manila on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Apostles of the City Rome.

Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. (Matthew 16:18).

These are the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew, which we have just heard in our liturgy this evening (Matthew 16:13-19). They recount the choice of the Lord to make St. Peter the leader of the apostles and the foundation upon which the community of believers in Christ, which we call Ecclesia, the Church, would be built. That community of believers has existed uninterrupted for more than two millennia and continues in our own time under the pastoral care of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.

Our feast day today, however, also commemorates another saint martyred in Rome in the same historical period as St. Peter, who is, of course, St. Paul, the great missionary of the gospel. St. Paul, who, after the death and the resurrection of Jesus, traveled throughout the Mediterranean region announcing the gift of salvation in Christ.

In our Second Reading (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18) for mass today, we hear St. Paul's words addressed to his companion in his missionary journeys, St. Timothy, in which St. Paul expresses his intuition, his primal premonition that his time to leave this world was fast approaching. In the traditional English rendering of his words, St. Paul writes,

“I have fought the good faith, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

In our modern translation, “I have competed well. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” The very well-known English phrase “to fight the good fight” comes from this source.

Indeed, both St. Peter and St. Paul fought the good fight ... and finished their race as Martyrs in Rome, put to death during the persecution by the Emperor Nero after the disastrous fire of Rome in the year 64.

According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter was martyred by being crucified upside down, while St. Paul was beheaded by an executioner's sword. This is how they finished their race.

But of course, for us, as Christians, finishing the race in this world does not mean coming to the end, but rather arriving at a new beginning.

As the poet Thomas Eliot (T.S. Eliot) had written for the place where he would be buried, his grave marker, in English, “In my end is my beginning”.

For us as believers in the resurrected Lord, death is not the end but the beginning. Indeed, in Latin, the term for the death of saint in his or her dies natalis, the day of birth, is or her birthday into the life of the next world.

As Saint Paul also writes in the reading which we have heard today, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to His eternal kingdom.”

We as Christians confess our faith in the reality of this new beginning in the words of Nicene Constantinopolitan Creed, as we will do in a few moments this evening. We believe in “the life of world to come”—a beautiful and evocative phrase which sums up what it means to be a follower of the one who said in front of Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Or as we read in the Letter to the Hebrews, “Here we have no lasting city but we seek the one that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

But of course, this hope and desire to be brought safely into the heavenly kingdom to be born into the life of the world to come does not imply in any way a lack of respect for the realities of this present world. Indeed, the realities of our present world are the way—the via—that leads to eternity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMZKaDwRg74

In fact, this is a remarkable aspect of the Catholic and Orthodox faith, the ability to hold in balance realities which might appear at first sight to be in tension with each other or even contradictory. For example, we believe that Jesus Christ is a true God and a true man. We believe that Our Lady is virgin and mother. We believe that our salvation is a shift through faith and good works. We honor the vocation to marriage and to celibacy. And similarly, we believe in the importance of the life on this world and that of the world to come. For Christians, it is not a matter of “either”, “or”, but always of “both end”. That element of both end, rather than “either”, or “or”, the importance of heaven and earth is evident in the Catholic Church social doctrine, especially as it has been proposed and taught by the popes over the last 130 years.

It is not by chance that here in Manila, in the old session hall of the Philippine Senate, where senators sat and legislated from 1926 to 1996 and which now is a part of the National Museum of Fine Arts, there is a statue of Pope Leo. Not Pope Leo XIV, our current Holy Father in Rome, but the Pope for whom Pope Leo XIV chose his name, Pope Leo XIII, who was Pope from 1878 until his death in 1903, and who can be considered the Father of the Church Modern Social Doctrine. Because it was he who was pope in 1891, published the Encyclical Letter on capital and labor on workers' rights, entitled Rerum Novarum. This prophetic document sprung from the conditions of the industrial revolution.

Pope Leo XIII sought to address the problems of his age: the vast expansion of industry, and the amazing advances of science. But also the changed relationship between owners and workers, and the enormous fortunes of some few individuals and the utter poverty of the masses.

As I told last year in my homily for Pope's day, shortly after being elected Supreme Pontiff in May last year, Pope Leo XIV explained the choice of his name, saying that there are different reasons for this, but it is mainly because Pope Leo XIII, in his historical encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution.

In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor. In keeping with his initial inspiration expressed after his election, Pope Leo XIV last month published his own first encyclical entitled Magnifica Humanitas, which he presents as a kind of continuation and further development of Rerum Novarum.

As Pope Leo XIV explains why Pope Leo XIII spoke in his time of new things—Rerum Novarum—today we cannot limit ourselves simply to repeating his insightful teachings.

Instead, we must ask God for the wisdom to interpret the great trends of our time, particularly technological advances.

In recent years, it has become increasingly evident how rapidly and profoundly digitalization artificial intelligence, and robotics are transforming our world. In Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV explains that today we find ourselves facing a new situation. The power and prevalence of emerging technologies are interwoven into the fabric of daily life, shaping decision making processes and deeply affecting the collective imagination. Never has humanity had such power over itself. New technologies open up a horizon extending in directions that are unimaginable but not yet fully predictable.

“Every technical or economic decision,” the Pope writes, “should include spiritual discernment and be an opportunity for assessing whether the advances in AI are promoting justice and participation or concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a select few. ... I will encourage a careful examination of the supply chains of digital production, the working conditions hidden behind our devices, and mechanisms that profit from manipulation and war. At the same time, practical ways of fostering fairness, participation, and care for creation must be found."

In other words, we must strive for a world in which technology is at the service of humanity and not humanity at the service of technology.

This is the challenge of our time. We must remember that economic freedom is not absolute, it must always be measured against the common good and the dignity of every person. This is the message of the Catholic Church.

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ gathered in this cathedral dedicated to Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, allow me to conclude by turning to her under her ancient title as the Salus Populi Romani, Protectress of the People of Rome, of the city of Rome.

Let us pray to her for Pope Leo XIV on this feast day. Let us pray also for peace in the world and for true wisdom in deciding on the way forward.

May God bless you.

Transcribed by Joel Vasquez Ocampo

*Archbishop Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, celebrated Holy Mass in the Diocese of Sorsogon on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary as a diocese at 9:00 a.m. on this day. His flight back to Manila to make it in time for the Pope's Day mass at the Manila Cathedral was cancelled without prior notice by the airline. In his place, Bishop Reynaldo Evangelista of the Diocese of Imus presided; while Msgr. Giuseppe Trentadue, Counsellor of the Apostolic Nunciature, read the homily that the Nuncio prepared. - Editor.