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Question

Hello Father!

With an Orthodox friend of mine, who is a person open to dialogue, I am discussing the primacy of the Pope.

He claims that the Pope is first among equals, and he often talks to me about Ulysses, comparing his command of the ship to that of the Pope over the bishops. He says that the Pope has a primacy that is only of honor and that he commands as first among equals.

I brought to him the historical data of the Tradition found on your website, as well as in the Scripture, in the passage where Jesus tells Peter that He will build his church upon him.

However, my friend says that Jesus meant this only regarding Peter. But how can he say that? I explained that this is not the first time that Jesus, in making a statement, actually wants to tell us additional things: here, the primacy of St. Peter and not only of him, but also of his successors.

Thank you, I pray for you and I wish you well.

Answer from the priest

Dear friend,

1. How can it be said that Christ bestowed on St. Peter only a primacy of honor?

What is the use of a primacy of honor?

Nowhere in the Sacred Scripture does such a statement appear.

2. To Peter and only to Peter Jesus said: “and upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16:18).

He changed Peter’s name to define from the beginning the role He would bestow on him. He called him “Kephas” (Jn 1:42), that is, stone, rock.

It is upon the rock that St. Peter is, that Christ builds the Church.

3. The Orthodox say that “this rock” does not denote Peter, but Christ, because St. Paul says: “for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:11).

But apart from the flow of the sentence and its terminology, which is all in reference to Kephas, to Stone, and to Peter, it must be said that, indeed, Christ is the main foundation. But he also wanted to have another one, that would be perpetually visible, which we could also call a derivative or secondary foundation.

Moreover, as Christ said of himself “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12) and he also said to the apostles “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14), meaning of himself that he is the primary light and of the Apostles that they are the derivative or secondary one, therefore he can say of himself that he is the primary foundation and that Peter is the visible foundation.

4. Furthermore, to Peter and only to Peter he said “you must strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:32).

Again only to Peter did he say: “Feed my lambs” (Jn 21:15) and “Tend my sheep” (Jn 21:16).

Now these words of Christ have a precise meaning that is not simply that of honor. He speaks about feeding. And one is tending when one is guiding and leading to pasture.

5. But in a very special way Jesus said only to Peter and to no one else: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:19).

Now, among ancient people, handing over the keys to a house or a city was the same as handing over power over it.

The key in the Sacred Scripture is synonymous with authority, as it arises from Isaiah 22:22: “I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open”.

These words denote the sovereign power of the Messiah.

These words are also echoed in the Revelation: “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write this: “The holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open, says this” (Rev 3:7).

To Peter, therefore, Christ gives similar authority when he says: “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”(Mt 16:19).

6. Referring to the Messiah, Isaiah says that the key will be placed on his shoulder: “I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open” (Is 22:22).

On his shoulder: as a symbol of a power that weighs heavily upon the bearer.

But is honor a heavy burden?

7. Not being able to deny the value of the words used by Jesus, the Orthodox say that Jesus, indeed, bestowed this power on Peter, but only on Peter and not on his successors.

However, if Christ wanted to build the Church on the foundation that Peter is and if, on the other hand, he wanted this Church, according to his promise, to last until the end of the world, does not it logically follow that the foundation must last forever?

Otherwise, the Church over the centuries would remain without foundation and would exist in a completely different way from that with which it was founded.

8. The best confirmation that Christ bestowed this power on Peter and on his successors until the end of the world, we have from Tradition. And from the living Tradition in the time of the Apostles.

When unrest breaks out in Corinth, the faithful of that Church, instead of appealing to St. John the Apostle who was on the other side of the Aegean Sea (in Ephesus), turn instead to the third successor of Peter, to Pope Clement, who writes to the Corinthians and adjudicates their disputes with authority.

Likewise Polycarp (called Princeps Asiae), a disciple of St. John, in the second century travels to Rome in order to meet Pope Anicetus, to agree with him the date of Easter.

And likewise many other authoritative testimonies ranging from Ignatius of Antioch to St. John Chrysostom.

9. However, the real reasons why Constantinople broke away from Rome in 1054 are not exactly these…

In any case, the scriptural and doctrinal motivations that your friend has claimed are very fragile, not to say inconsistent.

I wish you a joyful feast of All Saints.

May the common intercession of all the inhabitants of Heaven obtain you many graces.

I warmly thank you for your prayers, I also remember you in prayer and I bless you.

Father Angelo