You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church
There is a link between confessing the faith by St Peter: ‘You are the Christ’ and the foundation of the Church by the Lord. It looks like Christ needed Peter and his faith. It also means that the supernatural grace is granted to the Church: “the gates of the underworld can never hold out against” Her. In this cooperation between Christ and Peter, grace comes to everyone.
The mission of Peter is then to allow Christ to be the visible leader, so that the Redeemer and the Saviour reaches everyone through the ministry of the Church – The Church is actually made for that very reason.
In this context, it is extremely interesting to see how Jesus formed the faith of Peter, even leading him in the Valley of darkness, before finally entrusting to him His flock of all the generations of believers in Christ. It is also interesting to see how Peter as a person, had to grow up to his office of being first pope (as seen in the letter to Galatians 2:11-14 after Pentecost)
Fr. Stan