Was St. Paul Successor to St. Peter?

Extract

In other words, was St. Paul the first Pope after St. Peter?

The arguments for thinking that St. Paul succeeded St. Peter as Pope are manifold and cumulative. The arguments against are almost entirely the later lists of Roman Bishops, which do not mention St. Paul.

1. It is significant that every writer before the third century who mentions St. Peter as related to the Church of Rome invariably couples the two names ‘Peter and Paul.’

2. According to competent critics, such as Professor C. H. Turner, the tradition of coupling the names of St. Peter and St. Paul begins with St. John the Evangelist. The eleventh chapter of the Apocalypse contains a detailed description of the ‘two witnesses’ (μάρτνσíν = martyrs) and the ‘two olive-branches and two candlesticks that stand before the Lord of the earth.’ The allusion to the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul under Nero is almost irrefutable.

3. In the first letter of Pope St. Clement to the Church of Corinth the coupled names of St. Peter and St. Paul are used to hearten the somewhat cowed Corinthians.

4. St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing a little later to the Romans, speaks of St. Peter and St. Paul laying commands on them. The Church of Rome could be commanded only by a Bishop of Rome.