That scenario does make sense. I have faith in Jesus’ promise but I never forget that though He said the gates would not prevail he never said there would never be weak spots where hostile forces could slip through. Or more to the case a side door where they would walk in very boldly. There can be a lot of skirmishes not all of which the good ones win even when the final victory is known.
Yes, I agree. We don’t know and we won’t know until the end.
And it’s not the Church of St Peter, it’s the Church of Christ, and St Peter was just supposed to be the Rock (the protector of the foundation) of the Church and wasn’t supposed to be out developing his own version. A clash may come at some point, and then again, maybe not; maybe something will happen and the Pope will realize that he is just the custodian and guard and not the new CEO.