Peter: First Bishop (Pope) in Rome?

Today I move on to something else (I’ll get to the after life after more life).  Here’s an interesting question I received about Peter: the first bishop of Rome?

 

QUESTION:

Is there any historical evidence that the apostle Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and that he was martyred upside down on a cross?

 

RESPONSE:

Ah, I get asked this one (or these two) on occasion.  I dealt with them both in my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (which, by the way, was a blast to write).   First I’ll d...