By Giuseppe Monno
Jesus Christ, the one and supreme Shepherd of his flock (John 10:11), willed to confer upon the Apostle Peter a primacy of authority and service above the other Apostles.
Peter receives from God the Father a special revelation concerning the identity of Jesus. In the Gospel according to Matthew we read:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus replied, “Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church…” (Matthew 16:16–18).
In these words a twofold gift is manifested: the revelation of faith and the commission to serve as foundation. Jesus also promises Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19), a symbol of spiritual and administrative authority. In biblical culture, the possession of the keys signifies exercising the authority of the master of the house in his absence (cf. Isaiah 22:20–22).
The keys entrusted to Peter indicate that he is constituted the vicar and steward of the “house” of Christ, that is, the Church. In Mark 13:34 we find a similar image:
“It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake.”
The house is the Church; the servants are the bishops and presbyters; the doorkeeper is Peter and, after him, his legitimate successors, the Popes of Rome. The image of the doorkeeper refers to the task of watching over the faith and maintaining the unity of the flock.
In the ancient world, receiving the keys meant obtaining the authority to administer in the name of the sovereign. Joseph, the son of Jacob, when he became the steward of Pharaoh, received authority over the whole land of Egypt, while Pharaoh himself remained above him (Genesis 41:40). In the same way Peter governs the Church in the name of Christ, who remains the one Lord.
Jesus entrusts to Peter a threefold mission: to confirm the brethren in faith, to shepherd the flock, and to maintain communion.
In Luke 22:31–32, Jesus says to him:
“Simon, Simon! Look, Satan has got his wish to sift you all like wheat, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers.”
In John 21:15–17, the Risen Lord entrusts his flock to Peter:
“Feed my lambs… look after my sheep… feed my sheep.”
The lambs symbolize the people of God, while the sheep—the mothers of the lambs—symbolize the bishops who guide the people of God. Christ remains the supreme Shepherd, but Peter receives the mission of guarding and spiritually nourishing the universal Church.
In all the apostolic lists Peter is named first, even with the designation protos (“first” — Matthew 10:2).
Numerous episodes illustrate his role as leader:
Jesus chooses Peter’s boat from which to preach (Luke 5:3).
He pays the temple tax for himself and for Peter alone (Matthew 17:24–27).
It is Peter who speaks in the Upper Room to propose the election of Matthias (Acts 1:15–22).
It is he who delivers the discourse on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14–36).
He is also the one who performs the first apostolic miracle (Acts 3:1–11).
It is Peter who receives the vision of the great sheet, symbolizing the opening of the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10–11).
Even Paul, though the Apostle to the Gentiles, recognizes in Peter (Cephas, meaning “rock”) a point of authority:
“After three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days” (Galatians 1:18).
According to the most ancient tradition, Peter established his episcopal see in Rome, where he suffered martyrdom in A.D. 67 under the Emperor Nero. The Church of Rome, therefore, founded and sanctified by the blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul, became the center of ecclesial communion.
Already in the earliest centuries, the Fathers of the Church recognized this primacy.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (late second century) speaks of the Church of Rome as that “with which, because of its more excellent origin, every Church must necessarily agree” (Adversus haereses III, 3,2).
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (early second century) calls it “the Church which presides in charity” (Epistola ad Romanos, Proemium).
Saint Cyprian of Carthage (third century) describes it as “the chair of Peter and the principal Church from which the unity of the priesthood has arisen” (Epistola 59,14 ad Cornelium).
The primacy of Peter, therefore, is not a later invention but a constitutive element of the Church willed by Christ. It is transmitted to the successors of the Apostle, the Popes of Rome, who exercise the Petrine ministry as a visible sign of unity and apostolic continuity.
The primacy of Peter is not domination but service: an authority expressed in charity, in the safeguarding of the faith, and in universal communion. As Saint Gregory the Great, Pope in the sixth century, wrote:
“My honour is the honour of the universal Church.
My honour is the firm strength of my brethren.
Then I am truly honoured when the honour due to each one is not denied.”
(Epistola ad Eulogium Alexandrinum 8,30).
The Petrine ministry, in the Catholic understanding, continues until the end of time as the guarantee that the Church will never fail in the faith:
“You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:18).