Two thousand years after Jesus’ crucifixion, and we are still no closer to answering the most important of all questions – who was supposed to lead the early church in his absence? For the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, the answer is obvious, St. Peter, the Vicar of Christ. But is it? The Gospel of Mary paints a very different picture to the New Testament Gospels, and in particular the Synoptic Gospels. John’s Gospel is closer to the Gnostic Gospels than the Synoptics. 

Tomorrow is Pope Francis’ funeral, and then he will be replaced by a different Pope whom in turn will be replaced. This succession supposedly goes all the way back to St Peter himself, Jesus’ most ‘trusted’ disciple. But was he really? The Gospels don’t seem to think so. In fact Peter seems like the least likely candidate to lead the church. He may have been the oldest, and also one of the first disciples, but Jesus didn’t operate within the confines of societal expectations. 

The Gospel of Mary describes a sequence that sees Peter ask Mary Magdalene to share with the disciples the secret teachings of Jesus, the ones she was privy to, not Peter or the others. After Mary proceeds to share the knowledge, Andrew, Peters brother, interrupts Mary and aggressively confronts her. According to Andrew, the disciples shouldn’t listen to a woman, instead they should follow Peter. 

St. Paul forbade women from teaching in the churches, or even speaking. If they wanted to learn something, they were instructed to wait until they could ask their husbands at home to explain the teachings to them. According to Jewish law, women could not take on any leadership roles, something Paul, Peter and Andrew reaffirmed through their behavior towards Mary. 

Jesus on the other hand was a revolutionary. He had no time for social conventions and bigotry. He made it his mission to defy the priestly and worldly authorities. If Jesus returned to earth today, he would be horrified to find out that the Catholic Church does not allow female priests, 2000 years after the fact. Whether Jesus and Mary were married and had children is interesting, but it’s not the most important part of the mystery, leadership is. 

Or more specifically, leadership of the early church. The Catholic Church ordered the Albigensian Crusade to rid Southern France of the Cathars in the 12th century. Why, because they allowed women to be priests and serve as equals alongside men. This arrangement threatened to completely undermine the existing world order of patriarchal dominance. What was the solution, genocide?

To further reinforce this dominance, the Holy Inquisition and Witch Trials completely decimated a large portion of the female population and created a terrifying world to live in. This behavior was slightly altered as time went by to reemerge as the Magdalene Laundries and Asylums for troubled women and girls. Mary Magdalene was made the Patron Saint becuse of her supposed connection to prostitution.

GET AWAY FROM ME SATAN! Matthew 16: – 19 Peter, I give you the keys to 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.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men.

Jesus gives Peter the keys to heaven and earth in verse 19, yet only four verses later, calls him Satan and a stumbling-block. This confusion is repeated throughout all four Gospels. On the one hand Peter is singled out as being important, and on the other, is described as falling short time and time again. 

He fails to trust Jesus when he is instructed to walk on water. He argues with Jesus over having his feet washed. Peter cuts off the soldier’s ear in direct defiance of what Jesus told him to do. Peter falls asleep three times in the garden, one of the few times Jesus actually asked anything of his disciples. And the most damaging to his character, denying Jesus three times.

Matthew 26: – 69 Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”

70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.” 

71 And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

72 But again he denied with an oath, “I do not know the Man!”

73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”

74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly.

Does this sound like the behavior of a leader or a coward? Jesus mistrusted some of the disciples to the point that he only shared the most profound teachings of the Kingdom with a select few, Mary being foremost amongst them. She is often referred to as the Companion of Christ in the Gnostic Gospels, and as the Beloved Disciple in John’s Gospel. 

– Mary Magdalene is considered to be a saint by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. In 2016, Pope Francis raised the level of liturgical memory on July 22 from memorial to feast, and for her to be referred to as the “Apostle of the apostles”. – Wiki –