Church of the Primacy of St. Peter

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter Review

The austere, black basalt Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, 200 yards east of the Church of the Multiplication, is built on the water's edge, over a flat rock known as Mensa Christi (the Table of Christ). After his resurrection, the New Testament relates, Jesus appeared to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee and presented them a miraculous catch of fish. Three times Jesus asked the disciple Peter if he loved him, and after his reply of "You know that I love you," Jesus commanded him to "Feed my sheep." Some scholars see this affirmation as Peter's atonement for having thrice denied Jesus in Jerusalem after Jesus' arrest. The episode is seen as establishing Peter's "primacy" (Matthew 16:18) and, in the Roman Catholic tradition, that of the popes, his spiritual successors. The site was included in the itineraries of both Pope Paul VI in 1964 and Pope John Paul II in 2000.