How long has the papacy existed?

Answer

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today's Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.)

Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequalled by any institution in history.

Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy, and the churches that send out door-to-door missionaries are young compared to the Catholic Church. Many of these churches began as recently as the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. Some even began during your own lifetime. None of them can claim to be the Church Jesus established.

Another Answer

Unfortunately the doctrines taught by the Catholic church are not in line with what Jesus taught. Yes the Catholic Church is the original Christian church, but linking it with the apostle Peter is just a fancy fable as history shows he probably was never in Rome at all. This is just tradition only by the Catholic Church. The papacy did not even start in Rome, that is a ridiculous argument as to whether Peter was the first pope. The fact of the matter is that Jesus states that: "Upon this rock I shall build my Church." This establishes Peter as the first pope. Later, Jesus establishes dogmatic law which allows the Church to change with the times and interpret scripture. Dogmatic law states that "whatever you (peter) hold true on earth will also be true in heaven." This allows popes to reform and change various teachings of the Catholic Church. It is simple fact that the Catholic Church was established by Jesus and regardless of any Protestant wishes, the Catholic Church has withstood the test of time and corruption. It is not perfect, but by participating in Catholicism a person comes most close to what Jesus gave his blessing.

I agree with you. However, I want to make it perfectly clear that Jesus pronounced a blessing on Simon, because when Jesus was asking the apostles what the people said he was, Simon stood up and proclaimed Jesus to be the "The Christ. The Son of the Living God."

Hence the blessing. "Blessed are you Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this thing to you, but MY Father, which is in heaven. From henceforth, thou shalt be called Peter, the ROCK, and upon THIS rock, I will build my church.

And I will give thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And the very gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The keys to the kingdom that Jesus was speaking of, and the "Rock" that Jesus referred Peter to was this.

The key was the proclamation by Peter about Jesus, and the "rock" was the steadfast belief in this. By faith, the new christian (Of Christ) believed that Jesus was the true Son of God, and that was the unmoveable guide to growing in the new faith.

And not even satan could, would or EVER deny that.

First answer by ID1144988097. Last edit by Cinbare. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 64 [recommend question]