PETER’S PENCE IN THE SCRIPTURES

In his public life, dedicated to the proclamation of the Good News, Jesus received material aid to support himself with the group of the twelve Apostles (Lk 8:1-3). With this aid they also assisted those most in need (Jn 12:4-7). After Pentecost, in the time of the Church, the need was felt to support those who dedicated themselves fully to the proclamation of the Gospel (1 Tim 5:17-18). Saint Paul, in the Churches he founded, instituted the collection in support of the Mother Church of Jerusalem, which faced serious economic difficulties. He wrote in the First Letter to the Corinthians (16:1-4): “Concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed to the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me”.

This concrete participation in the needs of the community took on various forms throughout history, giving rise to the awareness that all the baptized are required to support, also materially and according to their means, the work of evangelization and at the same time to assist those most in need everywhere in the world.

The Peter's Pence, as a donation to the Successor of Peter, took on a stable form in the seventh century, with the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, in connection with the feast of the Apostle Saint Peter, to whom Jesus entrusted His Church. It then grew during subsequent centuries, with the adherence of other European peoples to Christianity, always as a contribution of gratitude and devotion to the Pope, as an expression of the unity of the Church, and of ecclesial co-responsibility.

The term “Peter’s Pence” was used since Medieval times to identify the censo, or the annual contribution paid to the Holy See by the States or local lordships under the sovereignty of the Pope. With the Protestant Reformation and the end of the feudal system, these relations between the European monarchies and the Pope came to an end. In the modern age, shortly before the end of the Papal State (1870) and the loss of income from territorial possessions, a surprising initiative to offer material aid to the Pope arose throughout Europe and overseas. This affectionate reaction of Catholics was of great comfort and encouragement to the Pope. Also, in that period of crisis, the Holy Father took care of the most afflicted (we recall, for example, the disastrous earthquake in Croatia in 1881), allocating a part of Peter’s Pence. Indeed, the support received by the Pope could not but be shared with those who found themselves in a situation of grave need, thus expressing the solicitude of a father who cares for all his children: to receive in order to give, and to give to those who are most in need at that time.