The Primacy of Peter

The dogmatic constitution Pastor Aternus shows that Christ conferred the primacy of ruling authority on Peter. Pope Benedict has succeeded Peter in this position. “Jurisdiction” is authority to govern a society. It includes the power to render decisions and to issue directives which members of the society are required to obey. “Primacy of Jurisdiction” is the highest rank of governing authority in a society. It is often contrasted with “primacy of honor,” which refers to the highest position of honor or dignity in a society. “Primacy of honor” does not necessarily include strict authority or jurisdiction over others. The king or queen of England, for example, has a primacy of honor in the British government, but not a primacy of jurisdiction because he or she has no authority to make decisions or issue directives that are juridically binding on the government. The Archbishop of Canterbury has a similar primacy of honor in the Anglican Church. He ranks first among the prelates in the Anglican Church and can lead by exhortation and teaching, but he cannot bind individuals or churches in the Anglican communion to accept his teaching or obey his directives.

Mt 16: 16-19 “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church…” When Christ proclaimed Peter the rock on which He would build His Church and promised him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and when, after the resurrection, He gave Peter the charge to feed his lambs and tend his sheep, He thereby made Peter head of the Church and entrusted all of His sheep to Peter’s care. Peter, then, has the responsibility of caring for all of Christ’s sheep; and since Peter has been appointed their shepherd, all of Christ’s sheep have the obligation to follow Peter’s pastoral guidance.

Having affirmed that Christ bestowed primacy of jurisdiction on Peter, the Council now speaks of the continuation of that primacy in Peter’s successors. The primacy that Christ established in the person of Peter for the good of the Church will endure until the end of the world in Peter’s successors, the bishops of Rome! Many testimonies from antiquity support the claim that the primacy of Peter continues in the Roman Pontiff. Philip, legate of Pope Celestine, speaking to the Council of Ephesus in 431 stated: “No one doubts that Peter even to this day lives, governs, and exercises judgment in his successors.”

Pope Leo the Great in 461 stated: “Saint Peter still has the rock-like strength that has been given to him and has not surrendered the helm of the Church.”

Saint Irenaeus stated: “Because of the greater authority (potentior principalitas) of the Church of Rome, it is necessary for every church…to be in agreement with it.”

The point is that according to the institution of Christ our Lord Himself, that is, by divine law, Saint Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole Church.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching