The keys to the kingdom

St. Peter...Jesus's right hand man. The first pope. The rock. Crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy of being killed in the same manner as Jesus.

Shown holding the keys to the kingdom. I took this photo in March 2003...ironically, in the same few days we were in Rome, someone actually stole the keys to the kingdom, from a statue of St. Peter inside the Basilica (not this one). I promise you, we didn't take it. :)

The Keys to the Kingdom
Have Been Taken From Rome

by Sorcha Faal

And Jesus said to Peter: "I will build My church. I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound
in heaven." -Matthew 16:18-19

Reported by the Catholic News Service in their March, 2003 article titled
"St Peter loses keys to Kingdom of Heaven", and which says; “Vatican
authorities were searching yesterday for the left hand - the one holding
the keys - of a 13th-century marble statue of the apostle in St Peter's
Basilica after the hand and keys mysteriously vanished.

The marble statue is dated between 1285-1290 and is attributed to
Arnolfo di Cambio, the same artist to whom many scholars attribute
the more famous bronze statue of St. Peter seated in the
central nave of the basilica.

The statue with the missing hand was restored in the late 1700s,
and the stolen hand was a replacement copy of the damaged original,
an official at the basilica said. The hand, which he said was of little
monetary value, was connected to the wrist of the statue with a
tight-fitting metal rod.

According to the official, a Vatican guide said the statue still had
both hands at 3:30 p.m. The theft was discovered an hour later
when a passing employee saw it was missing and alerted authorities.

The Vatican was tight-lipped about what might have happened to it,
saying only it was missing.”