(LifeSiteNews) — The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, launched a new video series exploring the ancient devotion of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The first episode, focused on Saint Peter’s Basilica, features Cardinal Raymond Burke, Father Chad Ripperger, and Sean Pilcher, with narration by David Bates of “Pints with Jack.”
Released on the shrine’s YouTube channel, the series aims to show how this centuries-old pilgrimage can unite the hearts of the faithful with Christ.
The tradition traces its popular form to St. Philip Neri in the mid-16th century. According to a 2022 article in the Liturgical Arts Journal, Neri, often called the “second apostle of Rome,” developed the walk as a pious alternative to the city’s raucous carnival celebrations, particularly in preparation for Lent.
The route visits seven basilicas closely tied to the early Roman saints and martyrs: the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, the Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, the Basilica of Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls, and the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme).
The four major papal basilicas among them had already been designated as pilgrim churches by earlier popes, but Neri’s itinerary made successive visitation of all seven a shared spiritual experience rooted in the “Romanness” of early Church heritage.
The very place of the ‘witness of St. Peter’
Episode One begins at the tomb of the Apostle Peter. Bates recounts how a fisherman from Galilee entered the capital of the world carrying the words of his Master: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Peter was executed under Nero and buried on Vatican Hill. Excavations in 1939 confirmed a first-century burial site marked by early Christian graffiti declaring “Peter is here.”
Cardinal Burke emphasizes the theological weight of the site. “St. Peter, our Lord chose him to be his vicar on earth, that he is the principal and foundation in his role as the Vicar of Christ of the unity of the bishops, those who are called to be successors of the apostles, and all the faithful,” he says. “Wanting to live in a strong way our Catholic faith, through this pilgrimage to the seven churches, we begin going to the tomb of St. Peter and praying to him for that unity with Christ which binds us all together in unity in the Church.”
“The high altar of St. Peter’s is built directly over the tomb of St. Peter. And so we’re right there in the place of that witness of St. Peter, his fidelity to Christ as the head of the Apostolic College,” the cardinal explained.
A physical and spiritual link to the early church
Ripperger reflects on the nature of pilgrimage itself. Historically, he said, such journeys served both as acts of devotion and as assigned penances. “People would actually do it in order to build virtue, discipline, mortification. They would increase their prayer life … primarily so that they would be able to make it more of an act of devotion, even though it is an act of penance.”
For his part, Pilcher discusses the Renaissance basilica that rose over the original Constantinian church. He explains how the four great piers supporting Michelangelo’s dome house major relics: a large fragment of the True Cross associated with St. Helena, the head of St. Andrew, the Veil of Veronica, and the spear of Longinus.
“Just like Peter’s relics are a reminder that Peter was a real person — he’s not just a figure in a stained-glass window — we have these four very real signs of Christ’s foundation of the church, the church that we’re still part of,” Pilcher says. “It’s a physical reminder and also a spiritual link to the early church … The relics ground us on earth, but then they also lift us up toward what we expect in the beatific vision.”
‘God builds his Church from broken stones’
The episode closes with Cardinal Burke addressing contemporary tensions surrounding the papal office. He notes that certain statements and actions of the Roman Pontiff have caused confusion, explaining that while the pope is the successor of St. Peter, “he’s also a man. And sometimes the pope speaks as a man. And sometimes he speaks as the vicar of Christ on earth.”
Spontaneous remarks to reporters, he clarifies, “are not the doctrine of the faith,” and the faithful may legitimately object to them.
Burke recalls that earlier popes spoke sparingly to avoid any confusion between personal opinions and official teaching. Even when particular papal words or deeds raise concerns — something not new in Church history — he insists, “We must never, ever lose respect for the office of St. Peter, the office conferred by Christ himself. Christ willed this. It’s divinely willed for the life of the Church that there be St. Peter as that firm, principal foundation of the unity of the Church.”
The office of the Vicar of Christ, he concludes, “stands and will always stand in the Catholic Church,” regardless of the human limitations of any individual who holds it.
Recalling St. Peter’s “darkest hour” in denying the Lord Jesus Christ three times, and the Lord’s reconciling him on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Bates asserts that the pilgrim who kneels at the tomb of the prince of apostles, “kneels at the place where frailty and faith meet, where God builds his Church from broken stones.”