why does the Pope need Swiss guards or any guards for that matter Peter didn't have any,oh wait Peter=Not Pope

Answer 1

You are being very naive.

Ever since the ancient Romans there have been people who wanted to kill the Pope.

The Soviet Union tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981 because of the Church's support of the Solidarity movement in Poland which they properly feared would lead to the end of Communism in Poland and another step to the fall of the Soviet Union.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Hmm, why does the President have the Secret Service? Why does the Queen have guards at Buckingham Palace?

Rome today is a lot less volatile than the Rome of ages past. Seriously. There were several periods when mobs were a real danger - one pope, at least, was maimed by a mob. There was a time when Romans - not just the pope mind you - tended to live in walled compounds. Why? Because there were armed conflicts between families, and on top of that bandits. You know the interfamilial "fighting in the streets" you see in "Romeo and Juliet"? It didn't just happen in Verona. In Renaissance Rome it was a reality.

Then there were the repeated invasions of Italy by other states and kings. Just because Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope in 800 didn't mean that some of later "Holy Roman Emperors" had any respect for the Papacy.

While I can see why Catholics were scandalized by Pope Julius II, who rode out to reclaim some of the Papal States in full armour and leading an army, the idea of a pope having guards really should not shock. It is not lack of faith but rather prudence to use what one is able.

The Swiss Guards are now mostly symbolic - like the guards at Buckingham Palace. (Their uniforms are still the original 16th c. style they originally wore when they first defended the pope and the Vatican during a war.) But the pope is a man - one with great responsibility and many honors yes - but a man none-the-less.

It wasn't that long ago that someone took advantage of Pope John Paul II's willingness to get close to people, and tried to murder him in broad daylight. Perhaps the intervening 20 years have made you forget, but I doubt it is lost on the people in charge of this current pope's safety.

And yes, Peter=Pope because Pope=Bishop of Rome. Peter was the Bishop of Rome, and thus "Pope", even if the term was not yet in use for that position.

And finally, early Popes, like early priests did not have to be celebate. It was only after about 900 that the Church stopped ordaining married men. Some rites in the Church still do - the Byzantine priests can be married for example - and some priests can get exemptions (for example, a pastor who converts to Catholicism from a sect that allows married pastors). The reason for the change was pastoral not doctrinal mostly.

But Peter being married did not and would not have excluded him from being Pope.

Bekka

Answer 3

So the pope shouldn't have electricity or purified water, because these weren't available in the first century? Or are you contemptuous about the papacy? Like how Peter was one a many elders/overseers in the Roman community whose ecclesiology is nothing like the Church's is today?

Which is it?

Answer 4

I'm not sure. I'm still trying to figure out why they can't marry, yet Peter, their supposed first Pope (yeah right) was married.......

Answer 5

its a tradition from the days with the pope waged open warfare