St. Peter

Accepting God’s Mercy & Call

St. Peter is a powerful movie about our first pope with Omar Sharif in the lead role and a strong supporting cast of lesser known, largely Italian, actors.  Originally released in Italian as San Pietro and shot on location in Tunisia, the film beautifully depicts the life of St. Peter from the crucifixion of Christ through St. Peter’s own crucifixion.   It also includes a number of flashbacks to Jesus’ ministry and his three years teaching the Apostles.

Dramatically, the film centers on the transformation of Peter from a man almost completely destroyed by his betrayal of Christ to the faith-filled leader of the early Church willing to embrace martyrdom in the name of Jesus, his Lord and Savior.  Throughout the film, Sharif does an excellent job of portraying St. Peter’s great love of Jesus along with his own human weaknesses, especially when Peter is overcome by fear or doubt.  That contrast shows us one reason why Jesus may have chosen Peter to be the first pope.  We can see ourselves in Peter - - his great desire to love and serve Jesus, yet his tendency toward impetuosity and self-preservation.

Peter’s transformation is especially well demonstrated in two sections of the film.  Immediately after Jesus’ death and before the resurrection, Peter is overcome with shame.  Initially, he wants to withdraw from the other disciples, believing that he is a total failure.  But, the Apostles urge him to be their leader, reminding him that Jesus chose Peter for that role knowing that Peter would deny him.  Peter ultimately, trusts in God’s mercy and begins to take on the mission to which Jesus has called him, praying “Help me Jesus, I am not worthy.  Help me to understand what I must do for my brothers.”  He exhorts the Apostles who were weakening in their faith to remain in Jerusalem for the coming of the Spirit as Jesus had commanded them.  This is contrasted with the news that Judas has given in to despair and hung himself.

Peter’s tremendous spiritual growth is also clearly shown in the scenes depicting the controversy about whether gentiles can be baptized or brought into the Church without being circumcised.  Initially, Peter wants to avoid the issue and not deal with the conflict between Matthew and Paul.  In one scene, he defaults to the position that Jews cannot eat with pagans.  But, St. Paul reminds Peter that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been given to the gentile Cornelius and challenges Peter to recognize that the issue must be decided definitively or the fledging Christian community will be torn apart.  Peter ultimately steps into his role as pope, and, after unresolved arguments among the Apostles at the Council of Jerusalem, says that he must make the final decision.

Although it is not explicitly stated in the film, St. Peter points strongly to the Scriptural basis and early Church affirmation of the primacy of Peter and the office of the Pope.

The title deed of the papacy as an institution in its claim to universality in the spiritual sphere of government is found in two crucial passages of the New Testament . . . (Mt 16.18–19), which traditional exegesis understands to have been a promise made by Christ to St. Peter; the other is the fulfillment of the promise contained in . . . (Jn 21.17). Both passages gave rise to the claim of two kinds of primacy (primatus) in the Roman Church: a magisterial and a jurisdictional primacy; the former is concerned with the final definition of doctrine and teaching; the latter, with government in the sense of a final decision . . . in the Biblical passages . . . Christ founded a new society, namely, the Church, and provided a government for the Church by conferring on Peter a fullness of power. It was a unique, creative act of Christ Himself.[1]

Through poignant flashback scenes, the above-referenced passages are convincingly reenacted.  We see Jesus giving Peter this primacy, both jurisdictional and magisterial.  When Jesus looks at Peter with great love and solemnly declares, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16:18), the viewer receives a clear message that St. Peter has been given a unique mission and authority.   Later, when Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to repent for his triple denial of Jesus by declaring his love for Jesus three times, Christ clearly entrusts Peter with the responsibility for overseeing the Church as its chief shepherd, commanding Peter to, “Feed my lambs . . . Tend my sheep . . . Feed my sheep.” (Jn 21:15-17)

Because the flashbacks occur at crucial points in the movie when Peter has to exercise his authority, we literally see Jesus’ plan for the papacy being lived out.  Peter’s magisterial primacy is demonstrated when He makes the final decision regarding gentiles being co-heirs to the gift of the Spirit and salvation through Christ’s sacrifice.  Peter’s jurisdictional primacy is demonstrated when he tells the disciples who want to flee Jerusalem after Jesus’ crucifixion that they must remain together in prayer as Jesus had commanded, and when Peter is shown directing the apostles to the various lands where they will preach the Good News.

By beginning and ending the film with parallel crucifixion scenes, we also see the redemptive power of God and the amazing expansion of the early Christian community.  Whereas Jesus was abandoned at the end of His life, except by the Blessed Mother and St. John, by the time of Peter’s crucifixion, there was a growing Christian community in Rome willing to endure increasing persecutions by the Romans.  Also, the rest of the apostles had spread out establishing new Christian communities throughout much of the known world.

Although the scenery and costumes seemed very realistic in St. Peter, and the quality of the film was

generally very good, it had two aspects that detracted from the film in this reviewer’s opinion.  In the scene depicting Peter’s miraculous escape from prison (described in Acts 12:6-12), the angel who releases him is not shown or referenced at all.  The only thing that appears is a bright light.  Peter then just arrives at the upper room.  It is confusing how he got there if one does not know the Scripture.  A second bigger issue is that the majority of the second half of the film is an invented and complicated love story about a young Christian woman and the son of a powerful Roman nobleman.  Actual events, such as Peter’s preaching in Rome, Paul’s beheading, and Christian opposition to pagan practices such as the killing of gladiators for entertainment, are interwoven into the story.  But, the over three hour running time of the movie could have been shortened considerably and better focused on the life of St. Peter without the invented storyline.

St. Peter is now available on DVD in two English versions from Amazon.  The first is a 2007 release from Lions Gate studio (ASIN: B000M9BPG2).  The second is a 2014 release from Ignatius Press (ASIN: B00HUFCK7).  It is also periodically rebroadcast on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN).

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[1] W. Ullmann and G. Schwaiger, "Papacy." New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Vol. 10 (Detroit: Gale, 2003), 829-830, Gale Virtual Reference Library, accessed March 1, 2016, http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3407708448&v=2.1&u=23009&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=d93f9968f4f36f0ffc128d87b97d56f7.

Bibliography

Ullmann, W., and G. Schwaiger. "Papacy." New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Accessed March 1, 2016. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3407708448&v=2.1&u=23009&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=d93f9968f4f36f0ffc128d87b97d56f7