The church in Rome and her bishop, Roman Catholicism and the Pope.

She is the world's oldest and most enduring institution. She has been alive for 2000 years. She is home to 1.378 billion people and makes up 50% of all Christians and by far the largest denomination of Christianity. She is the Roman Catholic church.

You will recall if you have read my article on ecumenism that initially there was only one Christian church after the death of the apostles. This church was called the "Catholic church" which simply means the universal church, to be clear I want to distinguish between the Roman Catholic church from simply the Catholic church. When i refer to the Catholic church i will be referring to the original first Christian church founded by the apostles before any schisms (splits) and Rome to refer to the Roman Catholic church led by the Pope in Vatican city whose church (along with 3 others) has been on earth since the time of Christ.

Peter and the Papacy

The Papacy is the foundation of Roman Catholicism and what distinguishes them from every other church is that they have a Pope, the bishop of Rome who leads all Catholics around the world. The office he holds is called the Papacy. Before the Apostles died they left faithful men to lead the churches they established 2 Timothy 2:2.  The claim that Rome makes is that Peter was the chief of all the apostles and naturally his church and his authority as a Pastor was not only superior to that of the other Apostles but also Peter in his office had supreme jurisdiction over all churches even the ones he did not establish himself such as churches that Paul established in ( Galatia, Ephesus, Corinth etc.) Their Key biblical passage for this supreme office given to Peter is Mathew 16:15-19 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Peter's birth name is Simon Bar-Jonah but Jesus changes his name to Peter in this passage, Petros in the Greek (Cephas in Aramaic)  which means rock. It is the argument that Jesus changes Peter's name to Rock because he is the rock upon which Christ will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail. Other scriptural passages include: John 21:15-17 where Jesus after his resurrection (speaking to Peter alone) asks Peter to tend his flock (believers), Luke 22:31–32: 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” As well as whenever the bible gives a list of the 12 Apostles, Peter is always first and Judas is always last. Historically Peter was stationed in Rome as the Head of the Church in Rome and was executed in Rome by Nero emperor of the Roman empire. It is then asserted that Peter ordained Linus to be his successor in Rome and then After Linus, Clement and so on and so forth. The claim of the Roman Catholic church is that there has been an unbroken line of Bishops in Rome( Apostolic succession) starting from Peter till the Present day, his holiness, Pope Francis. Yes according to Rome Peter was the first Pope.

Papal Infallibility at Vatican I

At the 1st Vatican council it was pronounced that the Pope, when speaking ex-cathedra (from the chair of Saint Peter) as the pastor of all Christians on a matter of faith and morals, is preserved from error by God. This means that the authority of an ex-cathedra Papal decree from the Pope is equal to the authority of the Bible. So if you have ever seen or heard of practices in the Roman Catholic church that seem strange like (praying to the saints and Mary, Eucharistic adoration, the Marian dogmas, kissing statues etc.) These practices have been Infallibly ( without possibility of error) defined by Popes as things that should be done or believed by all Christians. It is under this claim of authority that Pope Michael I added the Filioque to the Nicene Creed culminating in the East weest Schism of 1054. When the Catholic church splits one can take one of 2 approaches, firstly is that now the Catholic church has split into 2 churches the Eastern Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church or Secondly that the church cannot split and one can only leave the church. The Roman Catholic church believes the latter such that the only true church is the Roman Catholic church and every other "church" is in schism with the one true church and needs to return to the church. In the papal bull of Pope Boniface VIII "Unam Sanctam"  in 1302 it is Infallibly stated that: "Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff."

Conclusion 

I have tried my best to give the claims of Rome as unbiasedly as I could. In future blogs I will be critiquing the Papal claims biblically and historically this article is just to provide a background of the origins the Roman church. Here is the crux of the issue, If Rome is correct in their claims it is necessary that all Christians become Roman Catholic as this is the church Jesus established, however if the claims of Rome are false then it is necessary for no Christan to be Roman Catholic as they have added to the  Gospel of Christ without the authority to do so.