Central to Roman Catholicism is the belief that Peter was appointed by Christ as the head of the church and that his office was passed down to successors leading to the present pope. However, the document provides a brief refutation of this in 3 points: 1) If Peter had successors, we would expect to see evidence of it in early Christian writings but there is none. 2) Neither Peter nor early Christian writers mention Peter's successors. 3) There are no writings from alleged successors of Peter until Pope Victor I in the late 2nd century, despite early persecution not preventing writings from Peter and Paul. So the briefest refutation is the lack of evidence from the earliest church.

1. A Very Brief Refutation of
Roman Catholicism

2. A Very Brief Refutation of
Roman Catholicism
from Daniel Keeran, MSW
collegemhc@gmail.com
Central to the teachings of Roman Catholicism are the ideas that Peter was appointed
by Christ to be head of the church on earth and that his office had successors down to
the present time, which together with the decisions of universal councils of cardinals,
archbishops, and bishops forms the magisterium or authoritative teaching body of the
Roman Catholic Church.
If Peter was the first leader based on Matthew 16:16-18, having many successors, we
would expect to see evidence of this in early Christian writings, and we would have
writings from the successors of Peter. Yet the evidence is that neither Peter (in his two
extant letters) nor any of the earliest Christian writers to at least 160 A.D. appear to
mention this important fact.
Even as late as the History of the Church by Eusebius in the early Fourth Century A.D.,
there is no mention of a singular head of the whole Church on earth.
Early persecution was known to Peter and Paul, yet this did not prevent their writing
documents that have come down to us. There is no writing from the alleged successors
of Peter until Pope Victor I, 189 to 199 A.D.
So the briefest refutation of Roman Catholicism is the loud silence of the earliest Church
of Christ.
For more information
https://www.academia.edu/27796229/Meaning_Therapy