In
Catholicism, it is held that the primacy of Peter is a basis for the primacy of the bishop of Rome over other
bishops throughout the
Catholic Church. This extension of Petrine primacy to popes is known as the
primacy of the Bishop of Rome. This Catholic Church doctrine holds that the
pope as
Bishop of Rome has authority delegated from Jesus to rule over the entire Church. There are various views on the nature of the primacy and how it has been exercised and
passed on. This belief makes a distinction between the personal prestige of Peter and the supremacy of the office of pope which Catholics believe Jesus instituted in the person of Peter. In the
New Testament, which some call the
New Law or "New Greek Testament", Matthew 16:16–18 reports that Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter. Elsewhere in Scripture such a name change always denotes some change in status (e.g., Abram to Abraham, or Jacob to Israel). In the gospels, Peter is shown as a close associate of Jesus. His home at Capernaum was at Jesus' disposal, as was his fishing boat, when needed. Jesus cured Peter's mother-in-law, and Peter was among those who attended the wedding at Cana. He plays a prominent part in the account of the miraculous catch of fish, and the walking on the water. In John 20, when Peter and the other disciple run to the empty tomb, the other disciple arrives first, but it is Peter who enters the tomb. Though among the twelve disciples, Peter is predominant in the first chapters of
Acts of the Apostles, the focus shifting to Paul in the later chapters.
James the Just, "the brother of the Lord" (Galatians 1:19), appears as the bishop of Jerusalem at the earliest church community in Acts 15. The Ecclesiastical History (4th century) states: "James, ... was the first (as the records tell us) to be elected to the episcopal throne of the Jerusalem church.... Clement, in
Outlines Book VI, puts it thus, 'Peter, James and John, after the Ascension of the Saviour, did not claim pre-eminence because the Saviour had especially honored them, but chose James the Righteous as Bishop of Jerusalem.... James the Righteous, John, and Peter were entrusted by the Lord after his resurrection with the higher knowledge. They imparted it to the other apostles, and the other apostles to the seventy... For Catholics, St. Peter is commonly considered the first
Bishop of Jerusalem. However, they believe the bishop of Jerusalem was not by that fact the head of the Catholic church, since the leadership rested in Peter as the "Rock" and "Chief Shepherd". Catholics who believe Peter was the first bishop of Jerusalem also believe he entrusted the community to James when he was forced to leave Jerusalem, due to
Herod Agrippa's persecution. The 4th century
Latin Father Jerome, in his epistle to
Augustine of Hippo, wrote that "nay more, that Peter was the prime mover in issuing the decree by which this was affirmed", in relation to the Council of Jerusalem, and again, "and to his opinion the Apostle James, and all the elders together, gave consent". Jesus said to Peter in verse 19, "I will give to thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven." Especially for the Hebrew people, keys were a symbol of authority; keys are also used to symbolise power over death in
Revelation 1:18.
Cardinal Gibbons, in his book
The Faith of Our Fathers, points out that keys are still a symbol of authority in today's culture; he uses the example of someone giving the keys of his house to another person, and that the latter represented the owner of the house in his absence. In receiving the keys, Peter takes on the office of
prime minister, which was well-known to ancient and contemporary Hebrews, and depicted in the Old Testament, as the one who had authority from God to bind and loose. The Dogmatic Constitution,
Pastor aeternus, issued by the
First Vatican Council, defined the primacy of the bishop of Rome over the whole Catholic Church as an essential institution of the church that can never be relinquished. This is based on the statement in Matthew 16:18 "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it", and John 21:17 "He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' [Jesus] said to him, 'Feed my sheep. This conversation with Peter established Peter as the leader of the disciples in Jesus' absence. In December 1996, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith held a doctrinal symposium on "The Primacy of the Successor of Peter". One of the "Reflections" on the essential points of Catholic doctrine on the primacy is that it is a necessary service to unity. A listing of some of the essential points of the doctrine was issued by the prefect of the CDF,
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Noting that in the list of the Twelve Apostles in the Synoptics and Acts, Simon/Peter appears first. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
Individuals supporting Roman primacy Both Latin and Greek writers in the early church referred to "rock" as applying to both Peter personally and his faith symbolically, as well as seeing Christ's promise to apply more generally to his twelve apostles and the Catholic Church at large.
Irenaeus Irenaeus has been called the most important witness of
Christianity in the 2nd century. Taught by
Polycarp, who had been instructed by
John the apostle, Irenaeus became
Bishop of Lyon in 178. In his
Against the Heresies, Irenaeus wrote, "Although there are many dialects in the world, the force of the tradition is one and the same. For the same faith is held and handed down by the churches established in the German states, the Spains, among the Celtic tribes, in the East, in Libya, and in the central portions of the world." In Book 3, Irenaeus continues his defense of the unity of the church around the bishop, writing, "By pointing out the apostolic tradition and faith announced to mankind, which has been brought down to our time by successions of bishops, in the greatest, most ancient, and well known church, founded and established by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, at Rome, we can confound all who in any other way... gather more than they ought." Irenaeus asserted the Doctrine of Apostolic Succession to counter the claims of heretics, especially the Gnostics who were attacking the theology and authority of the mainstream church. He stated that one could find true teaching in several leading episcopal sees, not just at Rome. The doctrine he asserted, therefore, has two parts: lineage from the Apostles and right teaching.
Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius,
bishop of Antioch, was well known for his insistence on the authority of the bishop. In his writings to the church at
Smyrna in 115 AD, he encouraged the Smyrnaeans to "Avoid divisions, as the beginning of evil. Follow, all of you, the bishop, as Jesus Christ followed the father; and follow the presbytery as the apostles. Let no man do aught pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Wheresoever the bishop appears, there let the people be, even as wheresoever Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church."
Tertullian Born in
Carthage around 155 AD,
Tertullian became a priest around the age of forty and worked tirelessly to defend the faith. In his
Scorpiace of 208 AD, Tertullian wrote, "No delay or inquest will meet Christians on the threshold.... For though you think that heaven is still shut up, remember that the Lord left the keys of it to Peter here, and through him to the Church, which keys everyone will carry with him, if he has been questioned and made confession [of faith]."
Scorpiace is the first known historical reference to the keys pertaining to anyone other than Peter. In it, he saw the keys as pertaining to "everyone" if they "made confession", rather than according to the modern interpretation concerning the bishops of Rome alone. Tertullian later retracted even this association in
De Pudecitia, listing various reasons why the Keys of Peter pertained to Peter alone. The churches later declared him an apostate along with the followers of Montanus for insisting that authority must be associated with demonstrable power.
Cyprian Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus was made bishop of Carthage in 248 AD. but died only ten years later. Throughout his writings, Cyprian asserts that the Rock is Peter, and the church rests upon him. He also claims that as the church is settled upon the bishops, they too have authority. He writes, "They, who have departed from the Church, do not allow the Church to recall and bring back the lapsed. There is one God, and one Christ, and one Church, and one chair founded by the voice of the Lord on the rock. Another altar cannot be set up, nor a new priesthood made, besides the one altar and the one priesthood. Whoever gathers elsewhere scatters." In his 251 AD , Cyprian asks, "He who deserts the chair of Peter, upon whom the Church was founded, does he trust himself to be in the Church?" Regarding the interpretation of Matthew 16:18–19,
Jaroslav Pelikan writes: "[T]he ancient Christian father Cyprian used it to prove the authority of the bishop—not merely of the Roman bishop, but of every bishop", referring to Maurice Bevenot's work on St. Cyprian.
Eastern Catholics agree with the above, and hold the same essential doctrines as all other Catholics, but also as a theological reflection usually consider Peter in some way to exemplify the other bishops as well.
John Chrysostom John Chrysostom was born at
Antioch around 347 and would fight for the reform of the church until his exile in 404. His homilies emphasize his belief in the primacy. He called Peter "the leader of the choir, the mouth of all the apostles, the head of that tribe, the ruler of the whole world, the foundation of the Church, the ardent lover of Christ." His writings also emphasize the mortality of Peter, linking him more closely to the people of the church.
Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo was born in
Numidia in 354 AD and was baptized in
Milan in 387 AD. He was also bishop of Hippo from 397 AD until his death in 430 AD. Augustine taught that Peter was first amongst the apostles, and thus represents the church. His
Sermo states, "Peter in many places in the Scriptures appears to represent the Church, especially in that place where it was said 'I give to thee the keys... shall be loosed in heaven'. What! did Peter receive these keys, and Paul not receive? Did Peter receive and John and James not receive, and the rest of the apostles? But since in a figure Peter represented the Church, what was given to him singly was given to the Church." His 395 AD
Contra Epistolam Manichaei states, "There are many other things which rightly keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church.... The succession of the priests keeps me, from the very seat of the apostle Peter (to whom the Lord after his resurrection gave charge to feed his sheep) down to the present episcopate."
Pope Innocent I Innocent I held the papal office from 402 to 417. Modern theories of papal primacy developed around Innocent and his writings. In a 416 AD letter to
Decentius, bishop of Eugubium, Innocent writes, "Who does not know or observe that it [the church order] was delivered by Peter the chief of the apostles to the Roman church, and is kept until now, and ought to be retained by all, and that nothing ought to be imposed or introduced which has no authority, or seems to derive its precedents elsewhere?" It is also during this time that bishops began to recognize Innocent's primacy as Pope over other bishops in the West. This is made evident, among others, in a letter from the Council at Mileve to Innocent in 416 AD, which alludes to the authority of "his holiness" drawn from the authority of Scripture. The doctrine of primacy was beginning to take shape with Innocent's papacy.
Pope Leo I Based on his knowledge of the Petrine texts of the Gospel, and his writings which expound upon it, it is easy to see that
Leo I identified with the authority bestowed on Peter as bishop of Rome. Leo himself was consecrated bishop of Rome in 440 AD. He writes that "The right of this power did indeed pass on to other apostles, and the order of this decree passed on to all the chiefs of the Church; but not in vain was that which was imparted to all entrusted to but one. Therefore this is commended to Peter separately, because all the rulers of the Church are invested with the figure of Peter. …So then in Peter the strength of all is fortified, and the help of divine grace is so ordered that the stability which through Christ is given to Peter, through Peter is conveyed to the apostles." The
Council of Chalcedon would later refer to Leo as "him who had been charged with the custody of the vine by the savior."
Pope Gregory VII The
Gregorian Reform movement was rather a series of movements many of which involved the reform of the Catholic Church, headed by
Gregory VII, formerly the Archdeacon Hildebrand. Gregory became Pope in 1073 with the objective of reforming not the body of the church, but a purification of the clergy in general. Gregory is perhaps most recognized with the quarrel between himself and
King Henry IV of Germany, known as the "
Investiture Contest". Gregory's
Dictus Pape outlines his policies and ideals, as well as those of the Catholic Church. In this work, Gregory claims that the pope has power to depose and restore bishops, and also effectively reduces the authority of other bishops. This doctrine supported the idea that Rome and the church here also afforded primacy over all other churches. Gregory's papacy also bolstered the power of the church over that of the State. The Gregorians defended the ideal of a separation of powers, claiming "Let kings have what belongs to kings, and priests have what belongs to priests." The Petrine primacy was now more affirmed than ever.
Challenges Councils Many challenges faced the popes claiming primacy throughout the history of Catholicism. The
Edict of Milan, the
Council of Nicea, and the
First Council of Constantinople all dealt with the issue of primacy in that they amended the power of the popes over the other bishops. The third canon of the First Council of Constantinople of 381 AD declares Constantinople the new Rome, gives the Bishop of Rome the seat of honor and gives the Bishop of Constantinople second place in honor. The
Council of Ephesus in 431 AD offers debate as to whether the results determine that the pope is at the head of the church, or rather that it is under the authority of a council of bishops. Although the highlight of the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD was the confession of the
Person of Christ, the Council also resulted in limitations to the powers of the bishops. Many letters of the Council identify its position as in agreement with papal primacy. Those present employ titles such as "the most holy and beloved of God" and "ecumenical archbishop and patriarch of great Rome" to address
Pope Leo. Thus, as not all can be satisfied with the results, the Council of Chalcedon resulted in a schism with the Oriental Orthodox Church.
Schism The papacy's most widely known crisis, as well as its largest challenge to authority, came with the "
Western Schism" in the late Middle Ages, dating from 1378–1417. Seven popes ruled from
Avignon in France in the early 14th century, until
Gregory XI risked returning to turbulent Italy and the Roman seat. Following the close of the
Avignon papacy in 1377,
Urban VI, an Italian, took the reins over a predominantly French college of Cardinals. The Cardinals called the election into question and elected
Clement VII as Pope. Germany, Italy, England, and the rest of Northern and Eastern Europe remained loyal to Urban, while France, Spain, Scotland, and Rome followed Clement VII (1378–1394) and his successor,
Benedict XIII (1394–1417) who would reside in Avignon. == Matthew 16:18 ==