When did Saint Peter go to Rome?

Answer 1

Catholic Tradition, writings of the early Church Fathers and biblical passages place Peter in Rome in the early 5th decade of the first century AD. However, in AD49 the Roman Emperor Claudius grew fearful of the Jewish population in Rome and conflicts between Christianized Jews and the traditional Jews. He ordered the Jews out of Rome. Peter was one of them. He appears in Jerusalem about the year 49 or 50 for the Council of Jerusalem. Because of the political situation in Jerusalem Peter went to Antioch where he ruled the Church until Nero became Roman Emperor in AD56 and lifted the Jewish expulsion. Peter then returned to Rome where he remained until his death sometime between AD64 and 67. For more information click on this link.

The only writing to have survived from the reign of Pope Saint Clement I was his Epistle to the Corinthians. It was written to admonish the Church in Corinth for problems being created by some of the Church members there. The reason the issue of Peter in Rome is not addressed in that epistle is because that was neither the focus nor the intent of the letter. For a complete text of Clement's Epistle, click on this link. There is absolutely nothing surviving from the reign of Pope Anicetus, not even any oral traditions, so the statements made about him must be taken as myths.

With the possible exception of the tomb of King Tut, no other tomb on earth has received more attention than the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome. All that was found in Jerusalem was an empty ossuary with the name Simon Barjona on it. Simon and Jona (John) were very common names in Palestine so there is no connection to Simon Peter that can be proven.

Answer 2

There is no evidence that Peter ever went to Rome. In fact, Clement of Rome, writing about Peter, approximately 95 CE and so just a few decades after the time of Peter (1 Clement), seems to have been entirely unaware that Peter ever visited Rome (1Clem 5:3-4): "Let us set before our eyes the good Apostles. There was Peter who by reason of unrighteous jealousy endured not one not one but many labors, and thus having borne his testimony went to his appointed place of glory." Notice how in this straight-forward, unbiased translation, Clement speaks of labors and perhaps persecution of Peter, but not martyrdom, nor that he ever went to Rome.

The tradition that Peter went to Rome seems to have begun with the second-century Pope Anicetus, who wished to demonstrate that he spoke with the authority of Peter, and so reported that Peter had been beheaded in Rome. A century later, Origen changed this to say that Peter was sentenced to crucifixion but, feeling unworthy of being crucified like Jesus, asked to be crucified upside down.