Corinthian Influence

The Catholic Church teaches that the pastoral office, the office of shepherding the Church, that was held by the apostles, as a group or "college" with Saint Peter at their head, is now held by their successors, the bishops, with the bishop of Rome (the pope) at their head.[23]

The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus personally appointed Peter as leader of the Church and in its dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium makes a clear distinction between apostles and bishops, presenting the latter as the successors of the former, with the pope as successor of Peter in that he is head of the bishops as Peter was head of the apostles.[24] Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome and founded the episcopal see there can be traced

Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96,[27] about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the "struggles in our time" and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, "first, the greatest and most just columns", the "good apostles" Peter and Paul.[28] St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul

Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome.[33] Others, using Peter 's own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter.[34][35] Others have argued that the church is indeed built upon Jesus and faith, but also on the disciples as the roots and foundations of the church on the basis of Paul 's teaching in Romans and Ephesians, though not primarily