(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Athanasius Schneider, a good friend of LifeSiteNews, has clarified a statement he made on EWTN in September in which he seemed to imply that St. Peter was the pope when he denied Our Lord.
As many of you may have heard in my speech last week at the Rome Life Forum, Bishop Schneider recently clarified to us at LifeSite what he meant when he seemed to tell EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo in late September that St. Peter was the pope when he denied Our Lord three times in the lead-up to Christ’s Passion. Schneider made the imprecise comment when talking about Francis’ scandalous statement to an inter-religious gathering in Singapore that same month, in which he said “every religion is a way to arrive at God,” plainly contradicting the truth that Christ, through His Church, is the only means of salvation.
If you listened to my speech, you’ll know that Schneider is a close and dear friend of mine, and over the years we at LifeSite have published a number of his pieces defending his position that Francis is the pope. As you all know, Schneider has never been one to shy away from criticizing Francis, even accusing him of heresy on more than one occasion.
Most recently, when Francis stated that all religions are “paths” to God, Schneider was quick to go on EWTN to correct the erroneous and dangerous claim, stating bluntly that such a statement is “clearly against” divine revelation.
“It contradicts directly the First Commandment, which is ever valid,” Schneider said, adding correctly that Francis’ statement “contradicts the entire Gospel.”
When asked by Arroyo how Catholics can reconcile this statement by Francis with his role as pope, Schneider mentioned St. Peter’s denial of Christ in the lead-up to the Passion of Our Lord, stating that St. Peter “was appointed the Vicar of Christ.”
It was this statement from Schneider which we felt must be clarified. While it is true that St. Peter denied Christ three times, Our Lord did not appoint St. Peter as the first pope of the Catholic Church until after His resurrection, which makes his denial of Our Lord different than Francis’ denial.
In fact, the First Vatican Council’s document Pastor aeternus teaches de fide, that is to say, as a matter of faith that must be believed by all Catholics, that it was not until St. Peter confessed to Our Lord and repented of his denial, after the Resurrection, that the papacy was conferred upon him.
In light of this, I emailed Schneider, whom I love and consider a hero, to seek clarification on the matter.
This is what I wrote:
Dear Bishop Schneider, greetings in Christ Jesus,
I offer the following with great respect and a sincere fraternal charity to a successor of the Apostles to whom I’m privileged to speak.
On Raymond Arroyo’s show you made it seem like Peter was pope when he denied Christ, however, the teaching of the Church seems to be that the primacy was conferred when Christ, after His resurrection, gave the mandate to Peter after the latter’s three-fold assurance of his love.
I then quoted the teaching on when St. Peter was conferred the papacy by Our Lord, as found in Paster aeternus:
‘And it was to Peter alone that Jesus, after his resurrection, confided the jurisdiction of supreme pastor and ruler of his whole Fold, saying, ‘feed my Lambs, feed my sheep.’
Concluding my email, I added:
Since many are arguing today about the claim that Francis is pope, it would not be beneficial for either side of the debate to leave faulty impressions.
I hope you will publicly correct this. We are running LifeSite articles on both sides of the argument, I know because the Church is Christ’s that the truth of Christ will come out and I believe reasoned prayerful debate on the matter is an aid to arriving at the truth.
In Christ and His Beloved Mother,
John-Henry
Unsurprisingly, Schneider was quick to respond to my concerned email, and clarified his statements:
Dear Mr. Westen,
Thank you for your greetings.
I am grateful to you for the indication of my lack of precision in speaking about the betrayal of the Apostle Peter. I would now provide the following precision.
In his precision, Schneider wrote:
The Apostle Peter denied Christ although he already received from Christ his new name, Cephas, and the name Peter, with Christ’s solemn proclamation that he will build His Church upon Peter, yet the primacy was conferred to Peter after Christ’s resurrection.
Schneider, acting as the great man he is, graciously told us that we can present this precision for publication for the benefit of the public. He also added that, as he has stated on numerous occasions, he still believes Francis to be the pope.
If you have not listened to my speech at the Rome Life Forum, I encourage you to do so. And I would like to reiterate my thanks to Bishop Schneider for his clarification on the matter.
In Christ and His Beloved Mother,
John-Henry Westen