This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 16:13-20) gives us the famous account of Our Lord conferring the Keys of the Kingdom on Peter and changing his name from Simon to Peter, the rock upon which He would build His Church. There is a stained-glass window depicting this very moment on the right-hand side of the church above Fr David’s confessional. It reminds us that the Church we belong to is not something invented by men. It is something founded by JESUS Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Simon had just made his great profession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Our Lord responded by giving him a new name: Peter – which means “rock.” “You are Peter and on this rock I will build My Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven” Christ will always be the Head of the Church, but after the Ascension Peter was to be the visible Head of the Church on earth. Keys mean authority, and so Our Lord is giving Peter real authority to teach and govern His Church. And that authority is passed on to all his successors, the popes.

The First Vatican Council in 1870 infallibly defined that:

– St Peter was appointed by Christ to be the visible Head of the Church;

– He received from Christ supreme authority to teach and govern the whole Church;

– Peter has a perpetual line of successors in the Primacy;

– His successors are the Roman Pontiffs or the popes.

So the pope has this God-given authority to rule the Church, and we believe that under very strict conditions he is infallible (cannot make a mistake), when he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church. It does not mean the pope can do no wrong or that he can never be mistaken, even in a religious matter. It is important we all understand that the pope is a human being and is always subject to human frailty and the possibility of error as are the rest of us. Hence St Paul’s rebuke to St Peter at Antioch, when Peter insisted the Gentiles follow the Jewish dietary laws, thus threatening the entire mission of the Church to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-14). The last time a Pope infallibly defined a dogma was in 1950, when Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. And even when the Pope does infallibly define a dogma, he can do no more than confirm and make clearer what has always been believed and handed down. Hence the First Vatican Council taught: “For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that they might disclose a new doctrine by His revelation, but rather that, with His assistance, they might reverently guard and faithfully explain that revelation or deposit of faith that was handed down through the Apostles.” In other words, the pope cannot change the Faith simply because times change. He cannot say there are four Persons in the Godhead, or that marriage can be between two men or two women, because God has revealed Himself as a Trinity of Persons, and that marriage is between one man and one woman ordered to procreation and education of children. The novelties we often hear being proposed by some churchmen today concerning faith and morals can be found nowhere in the Deposit of Faith handed down through the Apostles, and therefore are not of the Faith and must be rejected. Development of doctrine is different to changing it.

So the Papacy is a great gift to the Church. As Catholics we know that when the Church has given a solemn and definitive answer to a question, that teaching can never change, and the goal posts cannot be moved in the future, even if there are voices everywhere saying “The Church must move with the times.” The Church does not belong to the times. She belongs to JESUS Christ, and therefore nobody, whether pope, bishop, priest or synod, has any authority to reinvent her according to the fashions of the world. This is what Our Lord intended and why He founded His Church on Peter the rock. The pope is the test of the true Church. As St Ambrose said centuries ago, “Where Peter is, there is the Church.”

Fr Paul Gillham, IC