[ealgeone]

I am not a Catholic, but I have wondered what the effect would be for most if the Pope somehow sanctioned homosexuality male and female), women Priests, Transexual Priests etc? In other words, I have heard he is the most liberal, progressive Pope that the Church has had. What would the conservative Catholics do in that case, in your opinion?

The catholic really has no say in the matter based on this.

"Now, therefore, we declare, say, determine and pronounce that for every human creature it is necessary for salvation to be subject to the authority of the Roman pontiff" (Porro subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae creaturae declaramus, dicimus, definimus, et pronuntiamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis).http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15126a.htm

To disagree with the pope, as we see many catholics are doing on these threads, is to do exactly what Luther did which catholics routinely condemn him.

Luther evaluated what the roman catholic church was teaching based on the Word and found the rcc wanting.

Seems many catholics are doing the same thing today.

[HapaxLegamenon]

Again Ealgeone, nice try, but you are not an expert in Catholic doctrine and simply posting the same quotation out of context does not make you one.

Again, for the record, sed contra:

“The opinion according to which the pope, in virtue of his
infallibility, is an unlimited and absolute Sovereign, supposes a totally
erroneous conception of the dogma of papal infallibility. Thus, as the
[First Vatican Council] declared in clear and explicit terms, and as the
nature of things itself shows, this infallibility is confined to that which
is proper to the supreme pontifical Magisterium, which in truth coincides
with the limits of the infallible Magisterium of the Church generally, which
is limited by the doctrine contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, as
by
the definitions already pronounced by the Magisterium of the Church. (”A
Collective Declaration of the German Bishops,” confirmed by Pope Pius IX)

[richardtavor]

Thanks. That is why I asked. I am an historian and really want to avoid my own biases, where possible. Since I am an uninformed observer it appears that Catholicism is faced with the dilemma of most faiths - whatever orthodoxy you chose can be the diffence between Heresy or faithfulness. It was blasphemous for centuries to disagree with a Papal Decree, which was amended to say when he speaks ex cathedra, but it appears that many Catholics still believe that any word that he speaks is infallible. Is that your take from a conservative point of view? Do you think that some strict adnerents would consider you heretical if you do not agree with them?