Almost every Christian church says it follows the faith of the Apostles.

That is a good goal.

But there is a difference between saying you follow the Apostles and being able to trace your family tree back to them.

It is like the difference between liking Abraham Lincoln and being his great-great-great-grandson.

One is admiration.

The other is ancestry.

Wait… Can Catholics Really Trace Their Church Back to the Apostles?

A lot of people think:

“Every church claims to go back to Jesus. The Catholic Church is just older and bigger. There’s no real way to prove it goes back to the Apostles.”

And at first that sounds fair.

Two thousand years is a long time.

History gets fuzzy.

But then you look at the evidence, and you have to stop for a second.

Because the links are written down.

Jesus Promised His Church Would Last

Jesus told Peter, “upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

And He told the Apostles:

“and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”
— Matthew 28:20

All days.

Not most days.

Not until the year 300.

So somewhere, the Church Jesus founded has to have kept going.

A Chain of Teachers

Here is one remarkable chain.

St. John, the Apostle, taught St. Polycarp.

Polycarp became bishop of Smyrna and was martyred around A.D. 155, at age 86.

Polycarp taught St. Irenaeus.

Irenaeus wrote that he remembered as a boy sitting and listening to Polycarp tell what he had heard from John and others who had seen the Lord.

Irenaeus became bishop of Lyons and wrote, around A.D. 180, a huge defense of the Catholic faith.

That is three generations: an Apostle, his student, and his student’s student.

And Irenaeus believed in bishops, the authority of Rome, the Eucharist as Christ’s Body, baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and Mary as the new Eve.

Lists of Bishops

Irenaeus did something else.

To show where the true teaching was, he listed the bishops of Rome, from Peter and Paul down to his own day: Linus, Anacletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, and Eleutherius.

Around A.D. 200, Tertullian challenged heretics to do the same:

Show us the list of your bishops, going back to an Apostle or someone who stood with the Apostles.

The Catholic Church could.

The heretics couldn’t.

That list for Rome continues, unbroken, to the pope today.

(See What Apostolic Succession Means.)

Peter’s Tomb

Here is something you can actually visit.

Early Christian writers said Peter was martyred in Rome and buried on the Vatican Hill.

Around A.D. 200, a Roman priest named Gaius wrote that he could show visitors the “trophies” (the tombs) of Peter and Paul.

In the 1940s, archaeologists excavated beneath St. Peter’s Basilica.

They found an ancient cemetery, a small shrine from around A.D. 160, and walls covered with Christian graffiti, including prayers mentioning Peter.

In 1950, Pope Pius XII announced that Peter’s tomb had been found beneath the high altar.

The Church of Rome literally sits on top of Peter.

The Same Faith

Lists and tombs matter.

But the strongest evidence is what the first Christians believed.

The early Christians wrote about bishops, priests, and deacons.

The Eucharist as the flesh of Jesus.

Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, including for infants.

The authority of the bishop of Rome.

Prayers for the dead.

Honor for the martyrs and Mary.

Read those writings and ask: which church today believes all of that?

(See Was the Early Church Catholic?)

So What Is the Catholic Claim?

Here it is in simple terms.

Jesus promised His Church would last until the end of the world.

There are direct teacher-to-student links from the Apostle John to Polycarp to Irenaeus.

Irenaeus and Tertullian pointed to lists of bishops going back to the Apostles, and Rome’s list continues to the present pope.

Peter’s tomb has been found beneath St. Peter’s Basilica.

And the beliefs of the first Christians match the Catholic faith today.

The Catechism says the Church is apostolic because she was built on the Apostles, keeps their teaching, and is led by their successors (CCC 857).

So the real question is not:

“Can Catholics prove they go back to the Apostles?”

The better question is:

“Which other church can show the family tree?”

Because Catholics don’t just admire the Apostles.

They’re family.

Keep reading: Did the Catholic Church Change Christianity?, or browse more questions in Catholicism Explained.

If this helped you, consider supporting Christian Catholic Media so we can keep creating content.

Catholic Sources

Scripture (Douay-Rheims): Matthew 16:18; Matthew 28:19–20; 2 Timothy 2:2.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: CCC 857–862 (the Church is apostolic).

Early Christian writers: St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3 and Letter to Florinus (c. A.D. 180); Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 32 (c. A.D. 200); Gaius of Rome, quoted in Eusebius, Church History 2.25 (c. A.D. 200).

Church documents: Pope Pius XII, Christmas Message (1950).

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