Was Peter Truly the First Pope? by Robert Orlando

By Robert Orlando, Catholic Exchange, April 22, 2026

Robert Orlando, B.F.A. (School of Visual Arts), M.T.S., Th.M. (Princeton Theological Seminary), is an accomplished cultural theorist, award-winning author, and filmmaker, and founder of Nexus Media. He is the author of The Divine Plan, The Shroud Face-to-Face, and Karl Marx: The Divine Tragedy, all of which have been adapted into films. His latest book, Karl Marx: The Divine Tragedy, will be followed by his documentary To Hell with Karl Marx.

What Scripture Reveals for Catholics, Protestants, and Evangelicals Seeking Communion

For many Catholics engaged in conversations with Protestants or evangelicals, one question inevitably arises: Was Peter really the first pope? Sometimes the challenge is even more direct: There was no pope in the early Church.

The question is understandable. Many Christians approach the early Church through the lens of the Reformation. In that narrative, the papacy is often associated with the abuses that provoked Martin Luther’s protest in the sixteenth century—particularly the controversy surrounding indulgences and the preaching campaigns of Johann Tetzel that helped finance the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. From that vantage point, the papacy can appear less like a biblical office and more like a later institutional development tied to politics, corruption, and ecclesiastical power (Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Abingdon Press, 1950). …

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