That’s indeed a major difference of authentic Christianity. Thereby you must willingly chose to ignore this obvious sign of the false church in history. The great harlot of Revelation has been plain to one and all for centuries. She attempted to do by the point of the spear, the martyrs pyre, and the Inquisition rack what only God can do. Only God can convert a human soul. Salvation doesn’t come by force. It doesn’t come by any action or decisions of men. It’s up to God to show mercy and He has mercy on whom He will. (See Exodus 33, Romans 9) Jonah 2:9 tells us that “salvation is of The Lord.” John 1:13 tells us men are “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Popes, being human, and also likewise priests and bishops, all are capable of error and sin.
The remedy is to clean up the house not destroy it.
The Bible tells us Jesus knew Peter would deny Him the night preceding the Crucifixion,yet the Son of God still chose Peter as the rock upon which to build His church.
Now it may well be that Peter’s successors have strayed from the Way and should be reminded of their duty .I think the Bible calls for righteous believers to admonish those in error and even to exclude them from the Church,but no corporal punishment or death sentence is mentioned.
It may even be that the Eastern Orthodox have hewed more closely to the original path.They at least didn’t have the Inquisition nor the problems with homosexual priests,as far as I know.
In over 2000 years mankind has spent lots of time on alternate and dangerous paths.
Jesus taught the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the lost sheep;I am inclined to think Pope Francis has those in mind when he is reaching out to people caught up in homosexuality and other sins.Did not Jesus spend more of His time with the common people than with the wealthy and powerful?
Did Not Jesus also say”he who is without sin,let him cast the first stone” ?
Jesus also said to “go and sin no more” which is the really hard part for all of us.