November 9 is the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. What is the significance

November 4, 2022

Question:
November 9 is the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. What is the significance of this feast?

Answer:
Every diocese has a mother church, the bishop’s cathedral where the diocesan church gathers and celebrates. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop’s authority over the diocese. That authority is intended to be one of service to God’s people, shepherding and guiding them in a truly pastoral mode.

The pope is first and foremost the Bishop of Rome, as well as the head of the Roman Catholic Church. St. John Lateran is his cathedral, and its prominence derives from that reality. St. John Lateran cathedral traces its origins to Emperor Constantine who converted a portion of the Laterani family palace into a church, and gave it to Pope Sylvester (314–335) as the papal church and residence; St. John refers to the two saints in whose honor the church is dedicated, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. It became known as the cathedral of the pope, and its facade’s inscription refers to it as “the Mother and Head of all Churches, in the City and of the World.” The universal celebration of this feast stresses the unity among Roman Catholics, as they unite themselves with the chair of Peter.