On the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Bishop Mario Alberto Molina reminds us that the martyrdom of these two great apostles gave the Church of Rome its primacy. Beyond their diversity of mission and personality, Peter and Paul together represent the unity and apostolicity of the Church.
Two apostles, one Church
This solemnity commemorates the martyrdom of the two apostles who are best known and who gave Rome the quality of primate church among all the churches of the world, since both exercised their apostolic ministry there and shed their blood for Christ in the city. Each was sacrificed on a different date and by different means. However, their martyrdom is celebrated on the same day to signify that both represent the unity of the Church, since, according to Paul, Peter was recognized as the evangelizer of the Jews and he, as the evangelizer of the Gentiles (Gal 2:6-10). Both are buried in Rome, in different places. The basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul were erected over their respective tombs. Paul, as a Roman citizen, because he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, was executed by decapitation, a method reserved for Roman citizens because it was fulminating. Peter, on the other hand, as a Jew, a foreigner and without rights, was subjected to the most ignominious, cruel and degrading form of execution that the Romans had: crucifixion. According to the tradition handed down, Peter made his execution even more terrible by refusing to be crucified with his head held high, like Jesus. He asked to be crucified upside down.
Peter: rock of faith and reconciled shepherd
Peter was distinguished by Jesus with the primacy. In the lists of Jesus’ apostles that we find in the Gospels, he always appears in first place. Jesus changed his name from Simon to Cephas in Aramaic, an unusual name, which is translated as “rock”, “stone”. With this name he constituted him as the cornerstone of the Church, in the sense that the faith that Simon had just professed, by which he recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, is what gives strength and consistency to the Church.
We do not have much information about his life and ministry. What we do know is the little news that St. Luke transmitted to us in the book of the Acts of the Apostles and some of Paul’s comments in his letters. In the Gospels Simon Peter stands out as the one who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. The testimonies about the appearances of the risen Jesus indicate that he first appeared to Peter, although no account of that appearance has been transmitted to us.
Peter also had his great weaknesses. He denied knowing Jesus while the trial was going on in Caiaphas’ house to avoid being implicated and dragged to die with Jesus. The Lord had foretold him that he would deny Him, but He also told him that when he recovered from his fall to strengthen his brothers in the faith. So he repaired the damage of his denials when the Risen One asked him if he loved him more than the others and he confessed three times that he did. On that occasion, Jesus commissioned him three times to care for, feed and guide his sheep, his Church. Peter sealed his love for Christ and his faith in him in his martyrdom. Two short letters of the New Testament bear his name.
Paul: evangelizer of the Gentiles and witness of grace
It is very likely that Paul did not deal with Jesus during his ministry before he died; perhaps he only heard about him. But two or three years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul, who had devoted himself as leader of the sect of the Pharisees to persecuting Christians, had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus while on his way to Damascus to apprehend Jews who had converted to the way of the gospel.
After another few years, while Barnabas was organizing the Christian community in Antioch of Syria, he recruited Paul to help him, and there began the apostolate of this great man. Although he was not the founder of the Church of Antioch of Syria, he collaborated in its organization. His greatest contribution was to spread the gospel among the Gentiles and to found churches in Asia Minor and Greece, notable in antiquity, those of Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica and Philippi.
He wrote numerous letters, fourteen are attributed to him in the New Testament, which means that a quarter of the text of the New Testament is due to him. We also owe him to have explained clearly that the message of Jesus was the gospel of grace, of God’s favor, according to which salvation is not the result of our good works, but of the death of Christ on the cross that enabled us to receive God’s free reconciliation.
The Church of Rome: founded on the witness of martyrs
The Christian community of Rome already existed when one and the other arrived in the city, but both gave that Church an apostolic foundation to the point that, for that reason already in the second century, it was the Church of reference. St. Ignatius of Antioch called Rome the Church that presides over all in charity and St. Irenaeus, in the second half of the same century, took it as a reference to know the true doctrine of the faith against the ravings of the Gnostics in the interpretation of Scripture. From these beginnings, the papacy developed as an indispensable institution of the Catholic Church.
The Church, built on stone and Tradition
The metaphor of the rock and the stone as the foundation of the Church is used in various contexts. In the first place, it is said of Christ that he is the cornerstone on which the Church is built. This is what St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:11. Jesus Christ, in turn, called Simon the rock on which his Church would be built in Matthew 16:18. And in Revelation 21:14, the wall that protects the heavenly Jerusalem is built on twelve pillars bearing the names of the apostles of the Lamb (cf. Eph 2:20). Peter and Paul, together with the other apostles of Jesus, are the foundation of the Church. This is why the Church is apostolic.
Apostolicity: succession, communion and fidelity
This quality of the Church is expressed in many different ways:
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In the succession of bishopsFrom those apostles to the present day through the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which one generation of bishops transmits to the next the ministry of teaching, sanctifying and governing by the gift of the Holy Spirit. The chief bishop is the bishop of Rome, the pope, successor of St. Peter, with whom all the other bishops are to be in communion. They form the episcopal college.
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In the Living Tradition of the Churchwhich transmits Scripture and its interpretation, the doctrine of the faith, the sacraments, the moral and spiritual life of the faithful, and the structures that give historical consistency to the Church.
In Peter and Paul we celebrate today our past roots past rootsour present present authenticity and our confidence for the future. Let us pray for the pope, the bishops and also for the priests, collaborators of the bishops, so that the Church may remain faithful to Christ in faith, charity and hope.