Jesus gave the keys to Peter.
Peter was the first pope.
His peers recognized his special role.
This same group of fallible men actually chose a successor apostle to replace Judas, and that apostle was a real apostle.
The apostles had the authority to name new apostles, and they did so, and this is in the bible, and it continues to this day.
Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
>>Peter was the first pope.<<
>> His peers recognized his special role.<<
In Luke we see that the disciples themselves did not think that Peter was the designated leader or they would not have asked the question of Jesus they did.
"Now there arose a dispute among them, which of them was reputed to be the greatest. But he said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and they who exercise authority over them are called Benefactors. But not so with you. On the contrary, let him who is greatest among you become as the youngest, and him who is chief as the servant.'" (Luke 22:24-26)
If Jesus had designated Peter the leader He would have told them at that point but He clearly didn’t. The RCC uses Matthew 16:18 to try to justify the papacy yet 26 years later when Luke was written it was clear that Peter was not the leader.