Peter
PETER
BASIC R.C. BELIEF Peter went to Rome in 43 A.D., wrote his Epistles from there and was martyred there. His bones were found under the Vatican. This forms the basis for the claim that the Pope is successor to Peter and Head of the Church.
A Roman Catholic in the Shrine Bookstore in Necedah, Wisconsin told me that one of the proofs he had for the validity of Roman Catholicism is that he saw a faded painting in the catacombs of Naples, and he was told this was an original painting of St. Peter saying Mass on his way to Rome, where he ruled as Pope.
CHRISTIAN COMMENT Peter was apostle to the Circumcision (Galatians 2:7-8) and the people whom Paul salutes as Christians in Rome (60 A.D.) are all of Gentile name (Romans 16:3-15). At about this same time, Peter wrote his first epistle from Babylon.
In 52 A.D., 9 years after he was supposed to go to Rome, Peter is in Jerusalem, telling of his experience with the Gentile Cornelius, but not breathing a word about any Gentile ministry in Rome. In Romans 16, Paul greeted 26 Christians in Rome. If Peter were Bishop of Rome, why was he left out? (Romans 16:3-15).
If Peter’s being in Rome is so important, why does the scripture point away from any connection of Peter and Rome? Even if there were, there is no scriptural link between Peter in Rome and a Papacy in Rome.