Pope after Peter

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JeanneH

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Hi,

Why was not one of the apostles chosen pope when Peter was executed?

Thanks
Jeanne
 
It is God who watches over His Church – so, you might say, He wanted Linus to be the successor of Peter and not John (or one of the other apostles still living). We all have different gifts and different missions.
 
Peter was bishop of Rome, followed by Linus, then Anacletus, then Clement.
 
JeanneH said:
Hi,

Why was not one of the apostles chosen pope when Peter was executed?

Thanks
Jeanne
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probably because by that time at least 30 years after the death of Christ, the rest of the apostles had either been executed, like James, exiled like John or had already spread out as commanded to other parts of the known world, and were too far away, or possibly already dead, to serve. The execution of Peter and Paul, in the context of the larger persecution, was a time of extreme crisis so the successor was no doubt chosen among those present, already serving and ordained and ready to take over.
 
JeanneH said:
Hi,

Why was not one of the apostles chosen pope when Peter was executed?

Thanks
Jeanne
Click to expand...
For one thing, none of them were at Rome at the time. Most of the Apostles would establish a Church, install a Bishop, then move on to the next town to evangelize. You would even had thought that St. Mark would have been Peter’s successor as he was close to St. Peter and his direct disciple. Although St. Mark moved and established the Church in Alexandria.

The Popes are the Bishop of Rome. So its not about who’s alive at the time, but who’s in Rome as its Bishop.
 
JeanneH said:
Hi,

Why was not one of the apostles chosen pope when Peter was executed?

Thanks
Jeanne
Click to expand...
The last living apostle was John, and the only one to die a natural death, and he was at Ephesus.

John did not become pope because his task ordained by Jesus was different. Remember Jesus’s words at the cross…“Son behold thy mother”…

Jesus also stated that John would be the last to die and would be natural death. If he had become pope, John would have not fulfilled Jesus’s words, for all the immediate popes succeeding Peter all were executed by the Romans. And John would not have had the time to write his gospel and the Book of Revelations.
 
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