Peter and the Papacy

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.

--The Gospel of Matthew 16:18

In St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the words are inscribed in gold in the cupola, the key argument that the papacy was founded by Jesus himself when he made Peter the head of his church. But does that long-contested biblical verse in fact mean what Roman Catholics traditionally take it to mean? Was Peter the first Pope? Are his successors the ultimate earthly authority in Christendom? In a new study, Peter in the New Testament, an investigative group of eleven Roman Catholic, Lutheran and other Protestant scripture experts issue a cautious demurrer. The scholars agree that the controversial passage, along with many others in the New Testament, makes Peter one of the most prominent Apostles--but it does not therefore make him a Pope.

The study, to be published jointly by Augsburg Publishing House and Paulist Press in September, is a part of an eight-year-old, officially sanctioned dialogue between Lutherans and Roman Catholics over issues that divide the two communions. The talks have already produced documents on Lutheran and Roman Catholic approaches to the Nicene Creed, baptism, the Eucharist and priestly ministry, all of which show remarkable basic agreement. The study on Peter, along with an examination of the development of the papacy in early church history, will provide background for the next major document, on the primacy and authority of the Pope.

Cautious though it may be, Peter in the New Testament will strike sparks among both Roman Catholics and more conservative Lutherans. One passage, for instance, suggests that if Jesus really expected an imminent apocalypse, he may never have intended the creation of any "church" at all. And despite the study's conclusion that the New Testament's emphasis started Peter's image on a long "trajectory" of prestige, that will hardly be enough to satisfy the man who now sits in Peter's chair in Rome.

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