590–604

Gregory the Great: the primacy of Peter and the rejection of the title "universal"

According to Pelikan, the teaching and practice of Gregory I became a turning point for the papacy: relying on Matt. 16:18, John 21:17 and Luke 22:31, he taught the primacy of Peter, whose successor he considered the Roman bishop, and that without the consent of the apostolic see the decisions of councils have no force. When the bishop of Constantinople assumed the title "ecumenical patriarch," Gregory called it "proud and foolish," and one who wished to be called universal priest a "forerunner of Antichrist"; González explains this by the fact that the title contradicted the papacy's claim to universal primacy. Berkhof notes that in 607 the title "Universal Bishop" was nevertheless granted to Boniface III, and from that time the spiritual primacy of Rome was recognized in the West.