Card. Joseph Ratzinger & Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone: The primacy of the successor of Peter in the mysteryof the Church, Reflections of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 30.10.1998Origin, Purpose and Nature of the Primacy3. "First Simon, who is called Peter" (Mt 10:2). With this significant emphasis on the primacy of Peter, Mtinserts in his Gospel the list of the 12 apostles, which also begins with the name of Simon in the other 2synoptic Gospels and in Acts.1 This list, which has great evidential force, and other Gospel passages2 showclearly and simply that the NT canon received what X said about Peter and his role in the group of the 12.3Thus, in the early Christian communities, as later throughout the Church, the image of Peter remained fixedas that of the apostle who, despite his human weakness, was expressly assigned by X to the first place amongthe 12 and was called to exercise a distinctive, specific task in the Church. He is the rock on which X willbuild his Church (Mt 16:18); he is the one, after he has been converted, whose faith will not fail and who willstrengthen his brethren (Lk 22:32); lastly, he is the Shepherd who will lead the whole community of theLord's disciples.4In Peter's person, mission and ministry, in his presence and death in Rome attested by the most ancientliterary and archaeological tradition the Church sees a deeper reality essentially related to her own mysteryof communion and salvation: "Ubi Petrus, ibi ergo Ecclesia".5 From the beginning and with increasingclarity, the Church has understood that, just as there is a succession of the apostles in the ministry of bishops,so too the ministry of unity entrusted to Peter belongs to the permanent structure of Christ's Church and thatthis succession is established in the see of his martyrdom.4. On the basis of the NT witness, the Catholic Church teaches, as a doctrine of faith, that the Bishop ofRome is the successor of Peter in his primatial service in the universal Church;6 ...