His role as teacher, governor, and symbol of Christian unity dates even to Pentecost
By Deacon Bob Hunt
Why do we have a pope? The origins of the papacy, of course, are in the words of our Lord to St. Peter when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then told him, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my heavenly Father. 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. I will give you the keys of 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” (Matthew 16:15-19).
The roots of Jesus’ words to Peter can be found in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, who spoke of Eliakim replacing Shebna as “Master of the House” when Shebna proved unworthy. The Master of the House ran the king’s palace in the era of the kingdom(s). The Master of the House was the one who allowed access to the king and spoke and acted for the king in the king’s absence. So, when King David was off on a war campaign, the Master of the House was in charge, having all the authority of the king until David returned.
This authority was symbolized by a key that literally hung around the Master’s shoulders. Isaiah writes of Eliakim: “He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open” (Isaiah 22:21b-22). This same authority was extended to the Master’s successors, as Shebna’s authority was given to Eliakim. Given this context, we can see that Jesus is clearly declaring that St. Peter, and his successors, possess the authority of Christ Himself until He returns.
At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the Apostles, it was Peter who spoke for the Apostles, preaching to the crowd the good news of Jesus. It was to Peter that the Lord revealed that His gospel was intended for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. It was Peter who stood up and proclaimed at the Council of Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts, chapter 15, that the Gentiles should not be burdened with following the Mosaic law in order to be Christians. Peter later traveled to Antioch, where he served as bishop for some time, and then, of course, to Rome.
There, tradition holds that Peter told his memoirs to a young man named Mark, who composed his Gospel based on Peter’s memories of Jesus. Peter was bishop of Rome until his martyrdom in the mid-60s. By tradition, he was crucified upside down, per his request, because he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. In 1968, based on the archeological evidence, Pope St. Paul VI declared that the tomb of St. Peter had been found, located directly under the high altar of the Vatican Basilica that bears his name.
Immediately, a successor of Peter was named. Writing toward the end of the second century, St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in Gaul, provides us with a list of the successors of St. Peter up to his day: Linus, Anacletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telephorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, Eleutherius. Irenaeus writes: “In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the Apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the Apostles until now, and handed down in truth.” Irenaeus wrote of the Church in Rome: “For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority.”
But did the early popes in Rome really possess authority over the whole Church? There is evidence that they did. In the mid-90s, St. Clement I was pope. When he learned that the Catholics in Corinth were disrespecting their clergy, he wrote a letter (still extant) exhorting the people to respect their priests. No one questioned Clement’s authority to address a controversy that was taking place in another diocese, even one so far away. For years after, in fact, Clement’s letter was read in Corinth in recognition of his pastoral authority.
In the early second century, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote of the Church in Rome as “a Church worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of felicitations, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and presiding in love, maintaining the law of Christ, and bearer of the Father’s name.”
Pope St. Victor I, in the year 180, threatened to excommunicate some Eastern bishops who refused to adopt the Western Church’s dating for Easter. St. Irenaeus counseled against such severity. Notably, he did not question the pope’s authority to excommunicate these bishops, only the wisdom of doing so.
St. Cyprian of Carthage, in the middle third century, disputed with Pope St. Stephen I over whether apostates should be rebaptized. St. Cyprian said yes, while St. Stephen said there was no need, that their original baptisms were inviolable. Pope Stephen prevailed, recommending that his authority as bishop of Rome carried the day.
There are a number of examples of early Church bishops appealing to the bishop of Rome’s authority on Church matters: Cyprian appealing to Pope Stephen on reconciling lapsed Catholics to the Church; Basilides of Emerita, a Spanish bishop, appealing to Pope Stephen also after being pushed out of his diocese by his brother bishops, and Pope Stephen reinstating him; the Emperor Aurelian appealing to Pope St. Felix I in the later third century on a dispute among Catholics in the city of Antioch.
The popes sent a representative to every ecumenical council of the early Church, and the pope’s representative usually ran the council. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the council fathers adopted the Tome of Pope St. Leo the Great, an exposition of the faith of the Church in Jesus Christ, even in Leo’s absence, testifying to his authority over the Church on matters of the faith. Most famously, perhaps, is the example of St. Augustine of Hippo. In the early fifth century, the Pelagian heresy had been condemned by two local councils, one in Milevi and another in Carthage. The decrees of condemnation were sent to the pope for approval and received said approval. In response, St. Augustine said, “The cause is finished; would that the error were as quickly finished.” This was eventually turned into the popular phrase, “Rome has spoken, the matter is settled.”
The authority of the pope as teacher and governor, and the pope as a symbol of Christian unity, has a long history in the Church, even from the very beginnings at Pentecost. Jesus promised that He would not leave His Church alone. He sent the Holy Spirit to guide His Church in all things necessary for our salvation. And He gave us the pope as a father, pastor, governor, and teacher to preserve the faith of the apostles in every age.
Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.
Deacon Bob Hunt is a husband, father, grandfather, and parishioner at All Saints Church in Knoxville.