Feast of the Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica ~ Most Catholics think of St. Peter's as the pope's main church, but they are wrong. Saint John Lateran is the pope's church, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides. The first basilica on the site was built in the fourth century when Constantine donated land he had received from the wealthy Lateran family. That structure and its successors suffered fire, earthquake, and the ravages of war, but the Lateran rema