In a Latin-language letter dated December 10 and released today, Pope Leo XIV marked the upcoming 800th anniversary of the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, Belgium.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, will be the Pope’s legate at the January 11 solemn Mass marking the occasion. The cathedral is the co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels.
“We ourselves must become the house of God,” Pope Leo wrote in his letter to Cardinal Parolin. Citing a sermon of St. Augustine, he added, “We do not yet make the house of the Lord, except when we are joined together in charity.”
The Pontiff also prayed that the beauty of the cathedral may be reflected “spiritually in minds and souls.”