We are going to read Matthew 16 once more. It seems to me that every time I read this part of Matthew’s Gospel, something new grabs my attention. Recently, I was reading something by Fr. Leonardo Castellani (1899-1981) when I noticed two important events in the life of St. Peter. The first is here, Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah. The context is rich in allegories but now we will concentrate only on Peter.
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. Matthew 16:13-17
What I noticed in this particular instance is the flow of information. You may find this strange but it is important. Hiding in plain sight is the fact that the Holy Trinity has taught Peter the truth about the real nature of Christ, his mission, and also a new authority that will be bestowed upon Peter. A few years ago, Jesus found Peter and his friends while they were fixing their fishing nets. Peter will no longer “tie and untie” the old nets. He has a new business, to tie and untie the laws that bind the Church together. Him and his companions have been transformed. Now they are fishers of men, catching souls in the great divine net. The important part of this lesson is: God is teaching Peter and Peter is allowing God to open his eyes to a new reality: Jesus is the Christ and the battle to rule Heaven and Earth is about to enter its final stage.
The teaching that followed that momentous revelation was no less surprising. Peter was shocked to hear Jesus talk not about victorious campaigns to conquer the world. The strategies revealed involve sacrifice and death. Jesus teaches them the terrifying realities of the Cross. At this point, Peter seems to refuse to hear God’s lesson.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Matthew 16:21-23
Notice that this was not the first of Peter’s failures. He had lost his faith momentarily while trying to follow Jesus walking on water (see Matthew 14:28-31) and later on, Peter failed miserably many times over. It is easy to find fault with Peter in the manner some critics of Catholic doctrine use those failures to “demonstrate” that “he is not infallible.” Time after time he finds his faith faltering at the crucial point of the test. Peter is not Abraham, he is a man like any other. Having said that, Peter is one that instinctively knows the old rule of the ancient philosophers: know thyself. He knows in his heart of hearts that he loves his Master but he also knows his heart is feeble. After many shameful failings and denials, Peter will confirm his love for Jesus by saying: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” (John 21:17)
After Jesus presents the disciples with the way of the Cross, Peter will fail to learn from God and then the flow of information changes direction. Peter cannot give up the popular ideas of his time. Everyone was expecting a glorious general, a conquering Messiah, someone who would make Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar look like fumbling amateurs. Reluctant to give up his dreams of glory, Peter the Fisherman tries to teach God: “This shall never happen to you!”
God had inspired Peter to recognize Jesus as the Messiah for the first time, but this time the enemy of God gained access to Peter’s thoughts. Jesus had recognized the origin of Peter’s doctrine and had given him the lead over his companions. This second time, Jesus also recognized the origin of Peter’s doctrine: the cunning enemy of God that knows very well that his kingdom of lies and death will be defeated by the truth of the Cross in the end. Jesus thunders in response: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the thoughts of God, but merely human thoughts.”
Notice one more thing: the thoughts that the enemy managed to smuggle into Peter’s mind were thoughts of “liberation” — that is the false liberation by human means that have plagued mankind since Adam — The same drama is replayed today when misguided minds present the errors of the so called “liberation theology” as the solution to all the evils that ail mankind.
One could use Matthew 16 as a map representing the whole history of the Papacy. The mission is presented to us first in its perfection: Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ who will win, reign, and rule mankind forever. The entire Church, represented by the Twelve, then listens to our King’s strategy: In hoc signo vinces, that is “you shall win if you embrace the Cross.” It is at that point the Peter fails again by not listening to the Word of God in front of him but trying foolishly to teach God instead: “This shall never happen to you!”
Father Leonardo Castellani teaches in Will Christ return or not?[1] how Peter’s failure may visit the papacy at the end of times:
The Mystery of Iniquity is the hatred of God and the worshiping of man. The Two Beasts are the political power and man’s religious instinct turned against God and controlled by the false Christ and the false prophet. The Obstacle is, in our interpretation, the remaining in force of the Roman Order. [2] The Great Harlot is religion deconstructed and surrendered to the temporal powers, and it is also the ethnic Rome, where this mystery of iniquity was revealed for the first time to the astonished eyes of John, the last apostolic visionary.
The worshiping of man combined with the hatred of God has always existed. “The mystery of iniquity is already at work” — writes St. Paul to the Thessalonians[3]
The Mystery of Iniquity is the origin of the city of man contending with the City of God from the beginning; it is the root of all heresy and the fire of all persecutions; it is the quiet incestuousness of the creature settled on its specific difference; it is the continuous rebellion of the sinful intellect against its beginning and end, the echo multiplied through the ages of Satan’s “I shall not serve.” — “but the One who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”The paramount of The Mystery of Iniquity is the hatred of God and the idolatrous worshiping of Man.
The Mystery of Iniquity tends to materialize in the body politic to crush the saints. It was the force that condemned Socrates to death, persecuted the prophets, crucified Jesus, and later multiplied the martyrs; and it will be the one who will destroy the Church when the Obstacle is removed, allowing the appearance of a man of satanic greatness, a commoner of perverse genius, perhaps a man of Jewish origins, superhuman intellect, absolute wickedness, to whom Satan will extend his power and his accumulated fury.
The Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, impedes that manifestation and lessens it, resting on the human order that the Roman Empire organized in a body of laws and political practice; but the day will come for the end of this age, and the One who now holds it back, the Obstacle, will be removed. The Holy Spirit will perhaps abandon that social-historical body we call Christendom, sending his own to the most barren isolation, giving them “the wings of the great eagle to fly to the wilderness.” And then the existing temporal structure of the Church will be caught by the Antichrist and will fornicate with the kings of the Earth (if not all the Church, at least a noticeable part of it, as it has already happened in history) and the abomination of desolation will enter the holy place. “So when you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it ought not …” then it is fulfilled.
Will that be the reign of an Anti-Pope or a false Pope? Will that involve the material destruction of Rome? Would that be the ascension of a sacrilegious cult? We do not know. We know that the Apocalypse of St. John, when describing the Great Harlot points with all precision to “the city of seven hills.” That interpretation is given by the very angel who is revealing the doctrine to St. John.
The short exegesis of Fr. Castellani seems to fit perfectly with Peter’s model found in Matthew 16. The Church who loved Jesus and offered the blood of her martyrs to complete the redemption of the world; the same Church that faithfully took the Gospel to the most remote parts of the world at great peril; that same Church will cease to listen to her Master and perhaps will briefly change His Doctrine in an attempt to appease the menacing forces surrounding her. Peter will look down fearfully into the abyss once more and will lose his faith. But be of good heart! The faithful will preserve the faith through that hour of darkness. We may be driven into the desert but that will result in our salvation. This new Passion has to unfold but those who love God, have nothing to fear. A new world and a glorious new age of the Church are waiting for us on the other side.
[1] Will Christ return or not? published in Spanish as Cristo ¿vuelve o no vuelve? in 1951 by Paucis Pango, chapter 6 p. 30 “The Mystery of Iniquity.”
[2] See Rosadini, S.J. In libros N. Testamentii, vol III, published by Gregoriana, Rome, 1981; In Epistolam II ad Thessalonicenses, unpublished course 1980-1981.
[3] 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
Carlos Caso-Rosendi 
Great insight, although my heart is always with Peter when he steps wrong. (Kindred spirits.) But you made me think of the Malachi prophecy of this Pope, being the last, and “Peter the Roman”, which is the way, I believe, PF introduced himself on the Loggia. As the Chinese Curse goes, we are living in interesting times.
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RESPONSE TO V SCHRAA
I believe Peter is not one solid Peter made of one kind of metal. He is flesh and blood and may be God chose him as a metaphor of the good mankind that tries but never quite gets to the ultimate perfection of spirit. Peter’s motto would be something like “nice try but no cigar” except that, in the end, Jesus hands him the cigar because he tried. Peter was sincere when he first met Jesus and witnessed His power: “Depart from me, oh Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Peter knows himself but God invites us to know Peter as a way to know ourselves. The evil in the human race is restrained by the divine Obstacle until the final part of the battle. At that time the losers who allowed evil to prevail and worked hard to contaminate God’s Church with heresy, will be permitted to triumph for one hour. Their folly will be uncovered: they have declared war on God but the devil has used them as cannon fodder. They have no friends, their wisdom has proved to be foolish nonsense and their destiny is sealed: Hell along with the Beast and the False Prophet. Those are represented by that Peter who dared to admonish Christ and was called “Satan.” Peter was in the dog house all that week but was invited to follow Jesus up the mountain to be a witness of the Transfiguration. Even then “he did not know what he was saying” because Christ left him on his own —some humble pie is good for the soul— they kept on going towards Jerusalem and then Peter failed again when confronted with evil. It took three more Sundays until Jesus talked to Peter again and restored his authority (that was in shambles after his various displays of pigheadedness and cowardice) — little did Peter know that was the training of Heaven. He needed that because of the extraordinary powers he was about to be given. Then in Pentecost he gives to all Jerusalem the glorious discourse on Joel, and valiantly he accuses the whole town of having their hands stained with Jesus’ blood! He is fearless, he performs miracles, he takes a beat up at the Sanhedrin and walks away praising God but then he goes to appease the sect of the Judaizers, he gets chewed by Paul and tries to escape Nero’s persecution. Christ has to help him all the way to the Cross and in the end, Peter repeats the same thing he said when he met Jesus: “I am not worthy of you” when he asks to be crucified upside down, not feeling worthy of suffering the same death as his Master. Who would not love Peter? He is a man, he is every man. He triumphs over his own nature because whatever heart he has is Christ’s. One can only admire his dog-like loyalty that drives him near the Master even in danger of sinking or being caught by the persecutors on the night of the Passion.
When the time comes for the last treason, Judas will take the place of Peter. The Obstacle described by Fr. Castellani will not be there, all masks will be off. Pure Evil will dress up as a false Peter. The Church will watch that drama unfold from the desert. It won’t be nice to see what kind of destruction will visit those condemned to damnation. I do think we are living in those times and I don’t think I am wrong.
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Carlos, this reply is worthy of another article. How beautifully you defend Peter, and for all the same reasons I love him too. Thank you kindly for your work.
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Well written. But poor title by Father Castellani as Jesus said that He will return, so playing around with words concerning His return, is not a good.
There is one thing though, St. Peter did not have the practical two plus thousand years of witness to the Risen Christ that we have. He did not have himself as a model as we have. I expect that Peter did very well in the situations that he found himself in with Jesus.
Also, perhaps this of Peter’s life, was written to show us years later, that though an ordained priest go through the channels and become Pope, that does not mean that his will is in full agreement with God’s will..
Pope Francis in signing the agreement with the Imam that God willed diverse religions, these writings are also in a way, warnings for us all to use the gift of discernment from the Holy Spirit given to each .
It is said that Pope Francis has told some those words mean God’s imperfect will, but Pope Francis has yet to publicly proclaim that. He knows what he signed is untrue. Anyone can read the agreement that he signed with the Imam.
God bless, C-Marie
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C-MARIE
Fr. Castellani was using a colloquial phrase: “Cristo: vuelve o no vuelve?” (literally: Christ does He return or does He not return) which is sort of a rethorical question, an invitation to consider the reasons why Christ will return in glory. It is a short phrase but it is hard to translate. If anyone is to blame it is me for the poor choice of words. The title in Spanish is excellent for a treatise on Christian apologetics because it invites to debate one important issue.
As for PF, I’m afraid you are right. Be grateful you do not have to hear all the things we hear on the news here. Notice how precise are the words of Castellani when describing the crisis we are living in right now. Castellani said it in 1953. I think that qualifies him as a prophet. He is seeing this mess from Heaven. I would like to be a heavenly fly on the wall to hear his comments right now! 🙂
PF is trying to teach doctrine to God … (Imam joint declaration, death penalty, etc.) Good luck there! 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
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And, Bishop Sheen in 1954 in one of his televised shows, said he believed the anti-christ will come from the Roman Catholic Church. He made no mention of the anti-christ coming from Judaism. I think that Bishop Sheen was prophetic in many ways. God bless, C-Marie
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C-MARIE
Many are the opinions about the origin of the Antichrist. Some believe it is not a person, others hold diverse views about his personality and the time of his appearance. Our Lady said in La Salette (mid 19th century) that “Rome would become the seat of the Antichrist.” I believe Fr. Castellani was quite familiar with La Salette because many of the details he mentions in his book The Apocalypse of St. John follow the structure of La Salette’s message. Our Lady adds in the same apparition that “the Antichrist will be the son of a Hebrew nun and a Bishop” and that he will have an extraordinary evil intellect and will be marked by several signs since his birth. That should confirm that he is a person of Jewish origin coming from the Catholic Church. Fr. Castellani wrote extensively on a variety of topics, his theological writings are being rediscovered at this point. He was a man of unparalleled integrity, a scholar of vast knowledge who knew the biblical languages in depth and spoke over half a dozen modern languages with fluidity. His life was marked by persecution. His persecutors were the heretics and the mediocre ecclesiastical cadre of his age. He died in utmost poverty having lived an exemplary life of evangelical virtue. There are many even today that hate his guts for no reason but that is changing. Recently, a large selection of his works has been republished in Spain.
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Marvelous article, including your comments, Carlos. Made even more wonderful for me because today is very special up here: we attend the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston.
Below is the text of an exchange that I had in a comment section yesterday, part of a discussion of the Benedict option.
Sunshade: Those micro-communities are already forming, all over the high ground in the Missouri / Arkansas / Oklahoma / Kansas area. We’ve met many people who — like us — pulled up stakes and moved here after hearing God’s call.
The region is in the Bible Belt but most of the original population are “Sunday Christians,” and Protestant too, but that is changing. Just a few months after my priest and I arrived here, a family of six disgruntled Protestants converted to 1962 Catholicism, and moved into our retreat so as to shelter their kids within it.
(The local Sheriff’s trucks have “IN GOD WE TRUST” stencilled on the tailgates.)
My reply:
Music to my ears.
Up here in Maine, we are definitely behind enemy lines. The unwelcome liberal elite from Massachusetts and elsewhere have moved up in droves, taken over the political culture after an 8-year flight into health with Governor LePage, a Catholic Republican, and have now embarked on a scorched earth project that spews the culture of death at every turn.
Meanwhile, up north we’re seeing an influx of Amish and evangelicals, everyone is armed, common sense still reigns, and there remains a residue of increasingly traditional Catholics left from the Franco-American influence of years gone by. Tonight, at 7:30, I will be singing Palestrina’s Missa Aeterna at an extraordinary form Mass at the Basilica in Lewiston in celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Not sure how well attended it will be (it turned out to be excellent), but the church is sure to be redolent of beauty (It was.).
Mt. Katahdin, near Benedicta, north of Bangor is the first place in the U.S. touched by the sun each day. Some have been saying for years now that that will be a focus of the future revival of the Faith.
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