The Rock Is Not Peter, It's the Confession of Truth

The catholic church believes it's peter himself, because his name in greek is petros, which means rock. This is actually the roman catholic's theological basis for the entire papacy. But that's not what this passage is teaching. It's peter's confession that jesus is the christ. And upon this revealed knowledge and confession, christ will build his church. He is going to build his church upon the confession that he was the messiah. So these people who were born into the kingdom through this spiritual revelation, have been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.