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>>Peter was made Christ’s Vicar on Earth (AKA Pope) when Jesus said what He said in Matthew 16:18. That is the siginificance to the RCC.<<

Utter blasphemy. The reference to the rock was back to Peter’s answer to who Jesus was. Jesus is the rock, the cornerstone. He was telling Peter that the Father in heaven had revealed to Peter who Jesus really was. The church is not built on Peter as the cornerstone.

Matthew 16:15-18

15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Look at what Peter says about the Priesthood. The cornerstone is Jesus and all believers are building blocks of the spiritual house (the Church). We are all priests.

1 Peter 2: 3If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Peter quotes Isaiah 28:16 and applies the Messianic stone reference to Jesus. Peter references vivid imagery from Isaiah. God placed Jesus as the chosen and valuable cornerstone.

This is the idea that Peter is giving to us by quoting Isaiah. Jesus is the perfect cornerstone upon which the spiritual house of God is built. We are the spiritual stones in this house. But we cannot be built just anywhere on this structure. We must be measured against the Living Stone to ensure that we are in line with it.

The RCC has corrupted the scripture.

Matthew 16:18-19

[18]And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. [19] And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

As St. Peter, by divine revelation, here made a solemn profession of his faith of the divinity of Christ; so in recompense of this faith and profession, our Lord here declares to him the dignity to which he is pleased to raise him: viz., that he to whom he had already given the name of Peter, signifying a rock, "Upon this rock"... The words of Christ to Peter, spoken in the vulgar language of the Jews which our Lord made use of, were the same as if he had said in English, Thou art a Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church. So that, by the plain course of the words, Peter is here declared to be the rock, upon which the church was to be built: Christ himself being both the principal foundation and founder of the same. Where also note, that Christ, by building his house, that is, his church, upon a rock, has thereby secured it against all storms and floods, like the wise builder, St. Matt. 7. 24, 25.

1 Pet2:3-6

[3] If so be you have tasted that the Lord is sweet. [4] Unto whom coming, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen and made honourable by God: [5] Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

yes, the holy priesthood of all believers. Just as Israel in the Old Covenant (which still holds) were a priestly people with ministerial priests (Levites and the house of Aaron), so too as we a royal, priestly nation with ministerial priests and lay priests.

Now under the nature of the body of Christ. Christians do not usurp or diminish the unique priesthood of Christ when they are referred to as priests; they participate in that unique priesthood. So intimate is the union of the baptized with Christ that Paul describes this mystical union as a body (1 Cor. 12:12–27; Rom. 12:5) with Christ as its head ( Eph. 1:22–23). What can be attributed to a hand in the body does not somehow take away from the head. The fact that Christians are priests does not usurp the priesthood of Christ because it is Christ who empowers them to participate in his own priesthood. Indeed, it is Christ (and his priesthood) living in them (cf. Gal. 2:20).

the English word priest is derived from the Greek word presbuteros, or "elder." It does not originate from hiereus. The German word priester also has its origin from the Greek word for "elder." So there is etymological reason to say that the elder in the Christian Church was considered to be a priest. In fact, the Douay-Rheims Bible translates presbuteros as "priest," which can be a valid translation (see James 5:14).

The New Covenant priesthood is the function of the apostle, bishop, and elder, which is clearly revealed to be of a priestly nature. (A deacon is ordained, but he is not a ministerial priest.)