linguistic:paraphrasing, linguistic:translation, stylistic:style_transfer
Crucifixion at Rome

In the epilogue of the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God, saying: "But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." This is interpreted by some as a reference to Peter's crucifixion. Unitarian theologian Donald Fay Robinson has suggested that the incident in Acts 12:1–17, where Peter is "released by an angel" and goes to "another place", really represents an idealised account of his death, which may have occurred in a Jerusalem prison as early as AD 44.

Early Church tradition says that Peter died by crucifixion (with arms outstretched) at the time of the Great Fire of Rome in the year 64. This probably took place three months after the disastrous fire that destroyed Rome for which the emperor Nero wished to blame the Christians. This " dies imperii " (regnal day anniversary) was an important one, exactly ten years after Nero ascended to the throne, and it was "as usual" accompanied by much bloodshed. Traditionally, Roman authorities sentenced him to death by crucifixion at Vatican Hill. In accordance with the apocryphal Acts of Peter, he was crucified head down. Tradition also locates his burial place where the Basilica of Saint Peter was later built, directly beneath the Basilica's high altar.

Pope Clement I (d. 99), in his Letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 5), written c. 80–98, speaks of Peter's martyrdom in the following terms: "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death. …Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him."

The apocryphal Acts of Peter (2nd cent.) (Vercelli Acts XXXV) is the source for the tradition about the famous Latin phrase " Quo vadis, Domine? " (in Greek: Κύριε, ποῦ ὑπάγεις "Kyrie, pou hypageis?"), which means "Where are you going, Lord?". According to the story, Peter, fleeing Rome to avoid execution meets the risen Jesus. In the Latin translation, Peter asks Jesus, "Quo vadis?" He replies, " Romam eo iterum crucifigi" ("I am going to Rome to be crucified again"). Peter then gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, where he is martyred. This story is commemorated in an Annibale Carracci painting. The Church of Quo Vadis, near the Catacombs of Saint Callistus, contains a stone in which Jesus' footprints from this event are supposedly preserved, though this was apparently an ex-voto from a pilgrim, and indeed a copy of the original housed in the Basilica of St Sebastian.

The death of Peter is attested to by Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240) at the end of the 2nd century in his Prescription Against Heretics, noting that Peter endured a passion like his Lord's: "How happy is that church... where Peter endured a passion like that of the Lord, where Paul was crowned in a death like John's". The statement implies that Peter was killed like Jesus (by crucifixion) and Paul was killed like John (by beheading). It gives the impression that Peter also died in Rome since Paul also died there. In his work Scorpiace 15, he also speaks of Peter's crucifixion: "The budding faith Nero first made bloody in Rome. There Peter was girded by another, since he was bound to the cross."

Origen (184–253) in his Commentary on the Book of Genesis III, quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (III, 1), said: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer." The Cross of St. Peter inverts the Latin cross based on this refusal, and on his claim of being unworthy to die the same way as his Saviour.

Peter of Alexandria (d. 311), who was bishop of Alexandria and died around AD 311, wrote an epistle on Penance, in which he says: "Peter, the first of the apostles, having been often apprehended and thrown into prison, and treated with ignominy, was last of all crucified at Rome."

Jerome (327–420) wrote that "at Nero's hands Peter received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord."

According to Jerome and Eusebius, Peter died in the year AD 67–68, twenty-five years after his arrival in Rome in AD 42. Some modern scholars argue for a date between the years AD 64–68. The Liber Pontificalis also gives him a tenure of 25 years, and adds that he died in the 38th year after the death of Jesus, which, reckoning from AD 30, also gives AD 67–68. However, it also explicitly states that Pope Linus succedded him in the year AD 56, which is the result of mixing two contradictory traditions.