Having considered prayerfully that Scripture quite often I do not see how Peter being selected as the chief apostle at that time now confers the same authority to the pope today. I am pretty sure Peter would not be appointing such openly corrupt individuals to such high places of influence within the Church.
My issue is not in a lineage of structure but with the continued near infallibility imbued within that structure, an infallibility not born out in Scripture nor in the acts of the Catholic Church itself.
Many faithful disagree with how that Scritpure is interpreted by Catholicism. That is a stretch even just considering as it is written linguistically. All you are doing in asking that question in that manner is insisting I abdicate my search for the truth and accept dogmatically what the institution of the Catholic Church insists is the correct way to read those Scriptures.
While probably true, in the present, a group of folks get to vote whomever they want into office.