“”It is interesting in my mind that the second Pope after the dead of Peter was not John as one would naturally suppose since he was the last living Apostle. Rather (if memory serves me correctly) it was Linus. Why didn’t the Church elect the last apostle to be Pope?””
“And that you may still be more confident, that repenting thus truly there remains for you a sure hope of salvation, listen to a tale? Which is not a tale but a narrative, handed down and committed to the custody of memory, about the Apostle John. For when, on the tyrant’s death, he returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos, he went away, being invited, to the contiguous territories of the nations, here to appoint bishops, there to set in order whole Churches, there to ordain such as were marked out by the Spirit.” Clement of Alexandria, Who is the rich man that shall be save?, 42 (A.D. 210).
So you see... Saint John certainly played an important role in the Church.Perhaps more important then being Pope
I understand John played an important role in setting up churches. But it doesn't say they were under his control nor does it say that John was submissive to a Pope. Don't you think that would have been a little impertinent of someone to assume command of John or to have John's council overruled by a group of cardinals?
This only serves to illustrate that there wasn't a controlling Pope in the early church.