DAY 297
CHALLENGE
“The pope cannot be the successor of Peter as the bishop of Rome. Peter was never even in Rome.”
DEFENSE
The evidence indicates that Peter was in Rome at the end of his career, and that he was martyred there, along with Paul, around A.D. 67.
In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter writes, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.”
This is commonly understood as a greeting on behalf of the church in Rome to the churches to whom Peter was writing (1 Pet. 1:1). The term “Babylon” is understood as a code word for Rome, based on the fact that Babylon was a great persecutor of God’s people in the Old Testament. This usage also may be reflected in Revelation’s depiction of the Whore of Babylon (see Day 190).
The Church Fathers make it even clearer that Peter was in Rome. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing around A.D. 110 (a mere for- ty-three years after Peter’s martyrdom) writes a letter to the church at Rome in which he states: “I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments to you. They were apostles; I am but a condemned man: They were free, while I am, even until now, a servant” (Letter to the Romans 4).
Around 170, St. Dionysius of Corinth wrote to Pope Soter and stated: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and taught us in Corinth. And they taught together in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time” (cited in Eusebius, Church History 2:25:8).
To quote a third source from the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote around A.D. 189: “Matthew also issued among the He- brews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church” (Against Heresies, 3:1:1).
He also wrote: “The greatest and most ancient church known to all [was] founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul” (ibid., 3:3:2).
TIP
For more, see Jimmy Akin, The Fathers Know Best, chapter 28.