On Constantine the Great
Verily Rome was chosen by God.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
History has shown us the irrevocable and intrinsic relation of Rome with Christianity. The eternal city have always had a mystic "aura" one could say, since its creation. Undoubtedly we can spend long hours praising Rome, but I would rather focus on one person, the first emperor by the grace of God: Constantine the Great.
Constantine had heard of the Christian God before before he was emperor. A moment marked him, the dream (or rather, the revelation) in which God transmitted a message: ἐν τούτῳ νίκα, in hoc signo vinces, with this sign you will be victorious. The background of what happened on the Milvian Bridge transcends the merely physical. An event that God already had planned, not only for his Church, but for his relationship with Rome.
Maxentius, his opponent, was described as a fervent pagan. He made rituals to the gods and trusted them for the battle that would take place on the Milvian Bridge, in fact during one of those rituals, it is said that the gods advised him to go out to the battlefield to face the army of Constantine instead of taking advantage the defensive advantage of staying in Rome. Trusting in his numerical superiority, he finally did it.
This is extremely important, since it would not only involve the clash of two military forces to see who controlled the most important empire in the world, but the prophesied metaphysical clash of two worlds, the old gods (already at this time under demonic influence), and God. Constantine's victory caused him to remain with the power of Rome, and the previously mentioned mystical aura of Rome was illuminated by the light of the Primordial God. Certainly is not strange that, according to it is said, the pagan rituals did not return to be the same from that very day, their temples did not return to have the same aura. Something had come to Rome, or rather, something had returned.
God had entrusted Rome with this important task, which was to lay the foundations for his Church. Of all the nations of the world, He expressly chose this one and Constantine as the first emperor "in communion." Nothing was the result of mere chance. As Saint Thomas Aquinas argumented:
...And because among all the Kings and Princes of the world, the Romans were the ones who took the most care
They had of the things that we have said, God inspired them to govern well; for which they deserved the Empire with dignity, as evidenced by St. Augustine in the book of the City of God giving various
causes and reasons, which by restricting them to the main ones we can reduce them to three, leaving the rest
for treating it more compendiously.
So let us pray for the mystical home of the throne of Saint Peter, hopefully She will find its aura illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and leave the Church in good custody for the moment of Judgment.