Many Catholics think that the word "church" in Matthew 16:18 refer exclusively to St. Peter's Basilica and all Catholic basilicas, cathedrals and churches worldwide. Below is a contrary viewpoint, quoted in part from an essay by Jerold Aust without hyperlinks [2]:
Matthew shows that Jesus built His Church on Himself. “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it [i.e., it will never die out]” (Matthew 16:18).
Contrary to conventional religious opinion, Jesus didn’t say He would build His Church on Peter. He simply acknowledged that Peter was a small piece of rock (Greek, petros ), but that He would build the Church on Himself, a great mass of rock (Greek, petra ).
This key opens the door to the Church that Jesus is building. The Church built on Jesus Christ is made up of humble people (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), not ostentatious buildings.
Another key to entering Christ’s Church is what constitutes His building materials. These include spiritual values such as love, hope, faith, joy, peace, patience, wisdom and humility, to name a few. Only the Master Builder, Christ Jesus, can build His Church with these spiritual materials.
[Christ did find a builder with such spiritual values to repair His Church in Saint Francis of Assisi. [3]]
At Christ’s return, God’s Church will grow prodigiously and cover the entire earth throughout His millennial rule (Isaiah 11:9; Daniel 7:27).
Paul speaks of the New Testament Church as Christ’s building that He now inhabits and that He causes to grow. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
The apostle Peter further refers to the Church as living stones. “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-5).
Earlier in the essay, Jerold Aust had this to say, quoted in part without hyperlinks [4] [italics original]:
In the New Testament, church is translated from the Greek word ecclesia , which can be defined as a calling out, an assembly or a congregation.
Church, in the Bible, is not described as a cathedral or any sort of building. The first-century Church brethren met in members’ private residences (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19), as they sometimes do today. The apostle Paul sometimes spoke to brethren, as well as potential converts and perhaps curious listeners, in various Jewish synagogues.
The Bible uses the word church to represent God’s people as “called-out ones.” Paul wrote “to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
The very early true Church of the New Testament had no cathedrals. These huge buildings began to be built a few hundred years later after another church organization with different doctrines and beliefs, emerged, competing with the true Church of God.
Even if Christ had in mind the churches, cathedrals and basilicas of today when He said He wanted His Church built, He most likely did not have in mind clerics who would run them like charitable non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with political overtones, who put themselves above the Church, by limiting the hours the Church doors would remain open, by allotting certain days and certain hours for Eucharistic adoration, shutting out people who would want to spend time with God in the time of need, to pray before the Eucharist, and by using the Church to raise funds for themselves to use without regard to their vow of poverty, and to pay legal fees and settlements for sexual abuses without regard to their vow of chastity.
How can any one think that the Catholic Church today is the Church Christ wanted? It is, in this blogger's opinion, a total abomination, and the Gates of Hell have already prevailed against it because it is not the Church Christ had in mind. If it were, it would not be plagued with financial and sex scandals, and who knows what other untold scandals that had taken and may still be taking place.
[1] https://www.ucg.org/user/jerold-aust
[2] https://www.ucg.org/world-news-and-prophecy/i-will-build-my-church
[3] https://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/life_saints/francis_assisi_life.htm
[4] https://www.ucg.org/world-news-and-prophecy/i-will-build-my-church
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