History of papal primacy
The historical roots of
Some earliest references to the primacy of the bishop of Rome can be found in the writings of renowned Christian figures such as Ignatius of Antioch and Irenaeus of Lyon. In their writings, these Church Fathers recognized the unique position of the church in Rome, which was believed to have been founded by Peter and Paul. Therefore, the bishop of Rome was regarded as the successor of Peter, who, in accordance with the New Testament, was designated by Jesus as the leader of his church.[3][4][5]
In addition, given the city's political and cultural importance as the
Background
In
Primacy of Peter the apostle
According to numerous records of the early Church Fathers, Peter was present in Rome, was martyred there, and was the first bishop of Rome. Dogma and traditions of the Catholic Church maintain that he served as the bishop of Rome for 25 years until 67 AD when he was martyred by Nero[7] (further information: Great Fire of Rome). The official Catholic position, as Eamon Duffy points out in his book Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes, is that Jesus had essentially appointed Peter as the first pope,[8] though the respectful title "pope" (meaning "father") developed at a later time. The New Testament evidence is briefly summarized:[9]
Roman Catholic doctrine maintains that the universal primacy of the bishop of Rome was divinely instituted by Jesus Christ. This was derived from the Petrine texts, and from the gospel accounts of Matthew (16:17‑19), Luke (22:32) and John (21:15‑17) according to the Roman tradition, they all refer not simply to the historical Peter, but to his successors to the end of time. Today, scriptural scholars of all traditions agree that we can discern in the New Testament an early tradition which attributes a special position to Peter among Christ's twelve apostles. The Church built its identity on them as witnesses, and responsibility for pastoral leadership was not restricted to Peter.[11] In Matthew 16:19, Peter is explicitly commissioned to "bind and loose"; later, in Matthew 18:18, Christ directly promises all the disciples that they will do the same. Similarly, the foundation upon which the Church is built is related to Peter in Matthew 16:16, and to the whole apostolic body elsewhere in the New Testament (cf. Eph. 2:10).
— Emmanuel Clapsis
The New Testament does not contain an explicit record of the transmission of Peter's leadership, nor is the transmission of apostolic authority in general very clear. As a result, the Petrine texts of the New Testament have been subjected to differing interpretations from the time of the church fathers on.[citation needed]
At least by the late second century, belief that Jesus granted Peter jurisdiction over the church is reflected, when Clement of Alexandria wrote: "Who is the Rich man that is Saved? The blessed Peter, the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first of the disciples, for whom alone and Himself the Saviour paid tribute, [who] quickly seized and comprehended the saying" (Ch. 21), referring to Mk 10:28. Tertullian,[10] while examining scriptural teachings, legal precedents, and dogma surrounding monogamy and marriage (post AD 213), says of Peter, "Monogamist I am led to presume him by consideration of the Church, which, built upon him..." ("On Monogamy", Ch. 8): his certainty that the church is built especially upon Peter is such that he simply refers to it in the context of another discussion. In a slightly later text (AD 220) "On Modesty", Tertullian writes at length about the significance of Matthew 16:18-19, "On this rock I will build my Church", and similar, emphasizing the singular, not plural, right, and condemning "wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, conferring (as that intention did) this (gift) personally upon Peter" (Ch. 21). Origen (c. AD 232) wrote also of "Peter, upon whom is built the Church of Christ" (Jurgens §479a).
Apostolic succession
The evolution of earlier tradition established both Peter and Paul as the forefathers of the bishops of Rome, from whom they received their position as chief shepherd (Peter) and supreme authority on doctrine (Paul).[13] To establish her primacy among the churches of the Western half of the empire, the bishops of Rome relied on a letter written in 416 by Innocent I to the Bishop of Gubbio, to show how subordination to Rome had been established. Since Peter was the only apostle (no mention of Paul) to have worked in the West, thus the only persons to have established churches in Italy, Spain, Gaul, Sicily, Africa, and the Western islands were bishops appointed by Peter or his successors. This being the case then, all congregations had to abide by the regulations set in Rome.[14]
Ante-Nicean period
Francis A. Sullivan "expressed agreement with the consensus of scholars that available evidence indicates that the church of Rome was led by a college of presbyters, rather than a single bishop, for at least several decades of the second century."[15] A Church hierarchy seems to have developed by the late 1st century and early 2nd century. Robert Williams says that the "origin and earliest development of episcopacy and monepiscopacy and the ecclesiastical concept of (apostolic) succession were associated with crisis situations in the early church."[16]
This development was one response to the problem of church unity. Thus, the solution to division arising from heterodox teaching was the development of more standardized structures of ministry. One of these structures is the tri-partite form of church leadership consisting of
Ignatius of Antioch urged churches to adopt this structure and emphasizes unity, obedience, and the hierarchical relationship among the faithful and between the bishop and God. In the 2nd century this structure was supported by teaching on apostolic succession, where a bishop becomes the spiritual successor of the previous bishop in a line tracing back to the apostles themselves.[citation needed] Over the course of the second century, this organizational structure became universal and continues to be used in the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches as well as in some Protestant denominations.[19]
Further elements of the hierarchical relationship are mentioned by Clement of Alexandria. In his Stromateis, he writes, "according to my opinion, the grades here in the Church, of bishops, presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who, following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel".[20]
Rome's role as arbiter
This passage in
Against Heresies 3:4:1) illuminates the meaning of his remarks about the Church of Rome: if there are disputes in a local church, that church should have recourse to the Roman Church, for there is contained the Tradition which is preserved by all the churches. Rome's vocation [in the pre-Nicene period] consisted in playing the part of arbiter, settling contentious issues by witnessing to the truth or falsity of whatever doctrine was put before them. Rome was truly the center where all converged if they wanted their doctrine to be accepted by the conscience of the Church. They could not count upon success except on one condition, that the Church of Rome had received their doctrine. And refusal from Rome predetermined the attitude the other churches would adopt. There are numerous cases of this recourse to Rome...— Nicholas Afanassieff, The Primacy of Peter (c. 1992)[21]
Stephen I
In the aftermath of the
Damasus I
In 376, Jerome was living as an ascetic in the desert of Chalcis, south-west of Antioch. Pope Damasus I had asked him to make a new translation of scripture. At that time there were rival claimants for the See of Antioch, and Jerome wrote Pope Damasus I to ask who was the true bishop of the three claimants of the see of Antioch, and for clarification of a doctrinal issue:
Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. ...My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. ...He that gathers not with you scatters; he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist.[24]
In 382 Jerome accompanied one of the claimants, Paulinus II of Antioch, to Rome, where Pope Damasus I (366-384) had convened a council to determine a canonical list of scripture.[25] (Jerome then served as confidential secretary to the Pope for the next three years before heading to Bethlehem.)[26]
By 650 AD, the See of Rome consolidated its position as a center of authority within the Western Church. It increasingly assumed the role of a final arbiter in legal matters, with individuals appealing to its court for resolution of disputes. Decisions issued from Rome held significant weight, carrying an authority nearly equal to pronouncements from universal church councils.[27]
After the Edict of Milan
Decretals
The bishops of Rome sent letters which, though largely ineffectual, provided historical precedents which were used by later supporters of papal primacy. These letters were known as "decretals" from at least the time of Pope Siricius (384-399) to Leo I. They provided general guidelines to follow which later would become incorporated into canon law.[28] Thus it was "this attempt to implement the authority of the bishop of Rome, or at least the claim of authority, to lands outside Italy, which allows us to use the word 'pope' for bishops starting with Damasus (366-384) or Siricius."[This quote needs a citation] Pope Siricius declared that no bishop could take office without his knowledge. Not until Pope Symmachus would a bishop of Rome presume to bestow a pallium (woolen garment worn by a bishop) on someone outside Italy.[citation needed]
Optatus
Optatus clearly believed in a "Chair of Peter", calling it a gift of the church and saying, as summarized by Henry Wace, that "Parmenian must be aware that the episcopal chair was conferred from the beginning on Peter, the chief of the apostles, that unity might be preserved among the rest and no one apostle set up a rival."[29] "You cannot deny that you are aware that in the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter, the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head—that is why he is also called Cephas—of all the Apostles; the one chair in which unity is maintained by all. Neither do other Apostles proceed individually on their own; and anyone who would set up another chair in opposition to that single chair would, by that very fact, be a schismatic and a sinner."[30][citation not found]
Bishop of Rome becomes rector of the whole church
The power of the bishop of Rome increased as the imperial power of the emperor declined. Edicts of Emperors Theodosius II and Valentinian III proclaimed the Roman bishop "as Rector of the whole Church."[citation needed] The Emperor Justinian, who was living in the East in Constantinople, in the 6th century published a similar decree. These proclamations did not create the office of the pope, but from the 6th century onward the bishop of Rome's power and prestige increased so dramatically that the title of "pope" (from greek pappàs, "father") began to fit the bishop of Rome best.[31][citation not found]
First Council of Constantinople
The event that is often considered to have been the first conflict between Rome and Constantinople was triggered by the elevation of the see of Constantinople to a position of honour second only to Rome, on the grounds that as capital of the eastern Roman empire it was now the "New Rome".[32] This was promulgated in the First Council of Constantinople (381) canon 3 which decreed: "The Bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome because Constantinople is the New Rome."[33] At the Council of Rome, a synod held in the following year, 382, Pope Damasus I protested against this raising of the bishop of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, to a status higher than that of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch.[34] In opposition to this view, Francis Dvornik asserts that not only did Damasus offer "no protest against the elevation of Constantinople", that change in the primacy of the major sees was effected in an "altogether friendly atmosphere". According to Dvornik, "Everyone continued to regard the Bishop of Rome as the first bishop of the Empire, and the head of the church."[35] Thomas Shahan says that, according to Photius, Pope Damasus approved the council of Constantinople, but he adds that, if any part of the council were approved by this pope, it could have been only its revision of the Nicene Creed, as was the case also when Gregory the Great recognized it as one of the four general councils, but only in its dogmatic utterances.[36]
The first documented use of the description of Peter as first bishop of Rome, rather than as the apostle who commissioned its first bishop, dates from 354, and the phrase "the Apostolic See", which refers to the same apostle, began to be used exclusively of the see of Rome, a usage found also in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. From the time of Pope Damasus I, the text of Matthew 16:18 ("You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church") is used to support Roman primacy.[37]
Pope Innocent I (401–417) claimed that all major cases should be reserved to the see of Rome and wrote: "All must preserve that which Peter the prince of the apostles delivered to the church at Rome and which it has watched over until now, and nothing may be added or introduced that lacks this authority or that derives its pattern from somewhere else."[38] Pope Boniface I (418–422) stated that the church of Rome stood to the churches throughout the world "as the head to the members",[34] a statement that was repeated by the delegates of Pope Leo I to the Council of Chalcedon in 451.[a]
Relationship with bishops of other cities
The increasing involvement of Eastern emperors in church matters and the advancement of the see of Constantinople over the sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem led successive bishops of Rome to attempt a sharper definition of their
Rome was not the only city that could claim a special role in Christ's church. Jerusalem had the prestige of being the city of Christ's death and resurrection, the location of the first church and an important church council of the 1st century. Antioch was the place where Jesus' followers were first called "Christians" (as well as "Catholic")[41] and was the first church that St Peter had founded.[42] Alexandria, was also an important early center of Christian thought. All three main apostolic sees of the early Church (i.e. Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome)[43] claimed an origin related to Peter, hence the term Petrine Sees. Prior to holding the position of Bishop of Rome, Peter was the Bishop of Antioch. And his disciple, Mark the Evangelist, founded the church in Alexandria. Constantinople became highly important after Constantine moved his capital there in 330 AD.[44]
It was not until 440 that Leo the Great more clearly articulated the extension of papal authority as doctrine, promulgating in edicts and in councils his right to exert "the full range of apostolic powers that Jesus had first bestowed on the apostle Peter". It was at the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451 that Leo I (through his emissaries) stated that he was "speaking with the voice of Peter". At this same Council, an attempt at compromise was made when the bishop of Constantinople was given a primacy of honour only second to that of the bishop of Rome, because "Constantinople is the New Rome". Roman papal authorities rejected this language since it did not clearly recognize Rome's claim to juridical authority over the other churches.[45]
Leo I
In line with the norm of Roman law that a person's legal rights and duties passed to his heir, Pope Leo (440–461) taught that he, as Peter's representative, succeeded to the power and authority of Peter, and he implied that it was through Peter that the other apostles received from Christ strength and stability.[46] Pope Gelasius I (492–496) stated: "The see of blessed Peter the Apostle has the right to unbind what has been bound by sentences of any pontiffs whatever, in that it has the right to judge the whole church. Neither is it lawful for anyone to judge its judgment, seeing that canons have willed that it might be appealed to from any part of the world, but that no one may be allowed to appeal from it."[47]
The Catholic doctrine of the sedes apostolica (apostolic see) states that every bishop of Rome, as Peter's successor, possesses the full authority granted to this position, so that this power is inviolable on the grounds that it was established by God himself and not bound to any individual. Leo I (440-461), with the aid of Roman law, solidified this doctrine by making the bishop of Rome the legal heir of Peter. According to Leo, the apostle Peter continued to speak to the Christian community through his successors as bishop of Rome.[44]
Roman emperor's decree
Phocas' decree
When
East–West Schism
The dispute about the authority of Roman bishops reached a climax in the year 1054 when
Factors furthering the east-west split included the Western adoption of the
Second Council of Lyons
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2021) |
The
On 29 June (Feast of Peter & Paul, patronal feast of popes), Gregory X celebrated a Mass in St John's Church, where both sides took part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed “the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church.”[54]
The council was seemingly a success, but did not provide a lasting solution to the schism; the Emperor was anxious to heal the schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople abdicated and was replaced by
Reformation
The primacy of the Roman Pontiff was again challenged in 1517 when
The
First Vatican Council
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2021) |
The doctrine of papal primacy was further developed in 1870 at the
The most substantial body of defined doctrine on the subject is found in Pastor aeternus, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ of Vatican Council I. This document declares that "in the disposition of God the Roman church holds the preeminence of ordinary power over all the other churches". This council also affirmed the dogma of papal infallibility, deciding that the “infallibility” of the Christian community extended to the pope himself, when he appeals to his highest authority in defining matters of faith.
Vatican I defined a twofold primacy of Peter—one in papal teaching on faith and morals (the charism of infallibility), and the other a primacy of jurisdiction involving government and discipline of the Church—submission to both being necessary to Catholic faith.[55]
Vatican I rejected the ideas that papal decrees have "no force or value unless confirmed by an order of the secular power" and that the pope's decisions can be appealed to an ecumenical council "as to an authority higher than the Roman Pontiff."
Paul Collins argues that "(the doctrine of papal primacy as formulated by the First Vatican Council) has led to the exercise of untrammelled papal power and has become a major stumbling block in ecumenical relationships with the Orthodox (who consider the definition to be heresy) and Protestants."[56]
Forced to break off prematurely by secular political developments in 1870, Vatican I left behind it a somewhat unbalanced ecclesiology. "In theology the question of papal primacy was so much in the foreground that the Church appeared essentially as a centrally directed institution which one was dogged in defending but which only encountered one externally,"[57][citation not found] It adjourned abruptly, without time to consider matters such as the relationship of the bishops and the faithful to Jesus' promise that "the gates of hades will not prevail against it [the church]" (Mt 16:18).
Second Vatican Council
This section needs additional citations for verification. (July 2021) |
At the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) the debate on papal primacy and authority re-emerged, and in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium) the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated.[58] Vatican II sought to correct the unbalanced ecclesiology left behind by Vatican I.
Vatican II reaffirmed everything Vatican I taught about papal primacy and infallibility but it added important points about bishops. Bishops, it says, are not "vicars of the Roman Pontiff". Rather, in governing their local churches they are "vicars and legates of Christ".
In a key passage about collegiality, Vatican II teaches: "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the Universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff".[60] Much of the present discussion of papal primacy is concerned with exploring the implications of this passage.
Chapter 3 of the dogmatic constitution on the Church of Vatican Council I (Pastor aeternus) is the principal document of the magisterium about the content and nature of the primatial power of the Roman Pontiff. Chapter 4 is a development and defining of one particular characteristic of this primatial power, namely the pope's supreme teaching authority, i.e. when the pope speaks ex cathedra a he teaches the doctrine of the faith infallibly. There is general agreement that the pope has only twice exercised his authority to proclaim a dogma apart from an ecumenical council, in the case of the immaculate conception (1854) and of Mary's assumption (1950). Popes Pius IX and Pius XII both consulted with the bishops around the world before pronouncing that these beliefs were infallibly held by Catholics.[61][62]
See also
- History of the papacy
- Papal titles
- Supreme Pontiff)
- Papal infallibility
- Papal supremacy
- Primacy of Simon Peter
Notes
Footnotes
- ISBN 978-0-8146-5522-1.
- ^ "Pope | Definition, Title, List of Popes, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
- ISBN 978-90-04-47714-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8264-1631-5.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-4862-8.
- ISBN 978-1-134-41535-9.
- ISBN 978-0-19-282085-3.
- ^ Duffy 2014, ch. 1.
- ^ "Papal Primacy - Theology - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America". www.goarch.org. 2000. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Duffy 2014, locations 139-144.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Schimmelpfennig 1992, p. 27.
- ^ Schimmelpfennig 1992, p. 39.
- ISBN 978-0809105342. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-59333-194-8. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ "Early Christian Writings: The Didache (§15)".
- ISBN 978-0-8264-1630-8. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
- ^ Clement of Alexandria. "Stromateis". Retrieved 2009-01-24.
- ^ Nicholas Afanassieff (1992). "4". The Primacy of Peter. pp. 26–127.
- ^ Mann, Horace. "Pope St. Stephen I." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11 February 2020 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ George Joyce. "The Pope". Catholic Encyclopedia. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus", 376, The Nicene Fathers (Schaff & Wace, ed.) T.&T. Clark, Edinburgh
- ISSN 0022-5185.
- ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Jerome". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ISBN 978-1-4008-4522-4.
- ^ Schimmelpfennig 1992, p. 47.
- ^ "- Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
- ^ Jurgens §1242
- ^ D'Aubigne, Book I, p. 81.
- ^ Dvornik 1966, p. 47.
- ^ Council Of Chalcedon, c. 3.
- ^ a b Nichols 2010, pp. 202–203.
- ^ Dvornik 1966, p. 47: "Pope Damasus offered no protest against the elevation of Constantinople, even though Alexandria had always been, in the past, in close contact with Rome... Everyone continued to regard the Bishop of Rome as the first bishop of the Empire, and the head of the church."
- ^ Shahan 1908.
- ISBN 978-0-19-752536-4, retrieved 2024-02-05
- ^ Nichols 1997, p. 113.
- ^ Council Of Chalcedon, par. 1.
- ^ Nichols 2010, p. 203.
- ^ "Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8". New Advent.
- ^ "Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America 8". Church tradition maintains that the See of Antioch was founded by Saint Peter the Apostle in A.D. 34.
- ^ "Patriarchate | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
- ^ a b Schimmelpfennig 1992, p. 49.
- ^ La Due, William J., "The Chair of Saint Peter", pp.300-301, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY; 1999)
- ^ Nichols 1997, p. 114.
- ^ Nichols 1997, p. 116.
- ^ Ekonomou, Andrew. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes. Lexington books, 2007
- ^ "Apostate church organization: 588 - 606 AD: The final dog fight for control of the world!". www.bible.ca. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
- ISBN 978-0-19-282085-3.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Oestreich, Thomas (1907). "Pope Boniface III". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Thompson, Ernest T. (1965). Through The Ages: A History Of The Christian Church. The CLC Press.
- ^ Wetterau, Bruce. World history. New York: Henry Holt and company. 1994.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-92230-2.
- ^ "Vatican I And The Papal Primacy".
- ^ Collins, Paul (1997-10-24). "Stress on papal primacy led to exaggerated clout for a pope among equals". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
- ^ Joseph Ratzinger
- ^ Duffy 2014, locations 6590-6592.
- ^ cf. Catechism, nos. 894-95
- ^ Lumen gentium, 22
- ^ "The Pope and Infallibility". Catholic Exchange. 2005-05-31. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
- ^ "Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary". Franciscan Media. 2016-08-15. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
Sources
- [Council Of Chalcedon] Schaff, Philip; et al. (1885). Wikisource. . – via
- ISBN 978-0-300-11597-0.
- Dvornik, Francis (1966). Byzantium and the Roman primacy. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 9780823207015.
- Nichols, Terence L. (1997). That all may be one: hierarchy and participation in the Church. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-5857-4.
- Nichols, Aidan (2010). Rome and the Eastern Churches: a study in schism (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-1-58617-282-4.
- Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard (1992). The Papacy. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-07515-2.
- Shahan, Thomas (1908). "First Council of Constantinople". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- Buttler, Scott; Norman Dahlgren; David Hess (1997). Jesus, Peter & the Keys: A Scriptural Handbook on the Papacy. Santa Barbara: Queenship Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-882972-54-8.
- Collins, Roger (2009). Keepers of the Keys: A History of the Papacy. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01195-7.
- Schatz, Klaus (1996). Papal Primacy. Liturgical Press. ISBN 0-8146-5522-X.
External links
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Rise of the Papacy - ReligionFacts.com