“While the catacombs depict the eloquent features of Christian life in the first centuries, they are also a perennial school of faith, hope and charity.
Walking through their tunnels, we breathe an evocative and moving atmosphere. Our gaze pauses on the innumerable series of tombs and on the simplicity they have in common. On the tombs we read the baptismal names of the deceased. As we run through those names, we seem to hear as many voices answering an eschatological call, and we remember the words of Lactantius: “There are neither servants nor masters among us; there is no reason for us to call ourselves brothers, except that we consider ourselves all equals”

–John Paul II, 16 January 1998 address to the staff of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology