Ok, the Catholic Church is confused here.
Christ was saying that just as Peter was given the knowledge of Christ by the Father, the rest of God’s elect will be saved in that fashion. That’s what the “keys to the kingdom” mean. The KEY is God the Father revealing to us the identity of Jesus (as well as our sin).
Think about it. Christ is the head of the church. The Pope serves no purpose. Now, there are ELDERS and church leadership but the Pope is nothing more than a spiritual leader. He is not the “holy father” and certainly not more “saintly” than any of God’s children.
That said (as much as I like theological discussion) my thread jack ends here :P
Wrong, and eisegetical.
Mt 16 refers back to Isaiah 22:22. The keys are a symbol of dynastic authority and power. The person to whom Isaiah refers is the "grand vizier" or "prime minister" of the Davidic kingdom, which is the direct OT foreshadowing of the Papacy.
The Pope serves no purpose.
Whether you think the Pope "serves a purpose" or not is irrelevant. The Church doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Christ. The only relevant question we ought to answer is whether He established the office, not whether you think it serves a purpose.
I don't think so and permit me to explain why.
Because He is the Word (Logos) made flesh every word of Scripture is as important and precious as every crumb of the Eucharist. We therefore can't ignore context and details that we assume to be irrelevant. Jesus took Peter and along with the other Apostles and Disciples up to Caesarea Philippi to reveal his papacy to him. The selection of the location is far from a coincidence. Caesarea Philippi is a 25 mile, two day hike from Capernaum thorough some pretty rough country.
At the site of the revelation was a massive exposed rock cliff. Atop the rock stood the city of Caesarea Philippi. It was a very important location militarily, and had been a place of temples and worship dating back millenia. At the base of the cliff was a massive grotto that at the time was a natural cistern that the Greeks and their predecessors believed was an a gate to the underworld. Physically, that rock stood between an city and the gates of hell.
Jesus then told Peter that he was a smaller rock, and that upon it, like the larger rock upon which was built the city before them, He would build His Church and that it would stand for ever against the gates of hell. A side note is that all of this arguing about the relevance of Petros versus Petra is foolish in the context of that location. Jesus often used wordplay and humor to convey His message.