[Hacksaw]

Whenever I have a religious discussion with my hard core Protestant friends, they always seem fixated on
1. Purgatory
2. The legitimacy of the Pope
3. Veneration of Mary (and saints).

They do have some interesting points, and increased my knowledge of the differences causing the split.

[presidio9]

1. Purgatory

Protestants are demonstrably wrong on Purgatory. The idea of Purgatory stems from Maccaabees, which Luther removed from the Bible. However, as that book points out, were there no purgaroty, there would be no need to pray for the departed, as we are instructed to do numerous times in both the Old and New Testaments.

[B Knotts]

Aside from number two, I see these as largely misunderstanding.

Many Protestants think that Catholics must believe that Purgatory is a place, and that we believe it is some "third" place between Heaven and Hell, when in fact it would more rightly be considered only a "waiting room" on the way to Heaven, and can be thought of as more of a process than a place, as Cardinal Ratzinger has opined.

They also get the false impression that we worship Mary and/or the Saints. When the idea of intercessory prayer through Mary and the Saints is properly explained to them, while they may still disagree with the practice, they at least understand that it is not worship.

[Alberta's Child]

2. The legitimacy of the Pope

If anything, the history of the various Protestant sects is a compelling case in support of the legitimacy of the Pope and the role of Sacred Tradition in Christianity. If we rely entirely on Sacred Scripture for guidance, we end up in a situations where moral chaos results from the inherent limitations of a document that is 2000 years old -- specifically with regard to moral questions that weren't addressed in Scripture because they weren't relevant at the time (abortion, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, etc.).

The fat that you even have multiple Protestant sects (and even additional divisions within them) ought to tell us something.

[Cronos]

Whenever I have a religious discussion with my hard core Protestant friends, they always seem fixated on
1. Purgatory
2. The legitimacy of the Pope
3. Veneration of Mary (and saints).

Hmmm...

1. Purgatory was the Christian way of trying to reconcile a loving God with the reality that we are all sinners.  It's like a place where we can prepare further before moving to heaven.  Those who have truly lead Godly lives are pure enough to go through, the others need to prepare a little.  Christ's death made it possible for us to go through that door to heaven, we just need to work at it.
2. The church needed and needs a proper orgnisation or else it falls aside as happened to the churchs that fell under slamic rule.  The Papacy provided a focal point for christendom (the precursor of Western civilisation).  That's the non-spiritual reason.
3. Heroes of the faith -- the saints.

[ought-six]

"Whenever I have a religious discussion with my hard core Protestant friends, they always seem fixated on:
1. Purgatory
2. The legitimacy of the Pope
3. Veneration of Mary (and saints)."

I'm a Catholic, and my response to the "concerns" identified is thus: (1). Purgatory is allegorical; it doe snot exist; (2). The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, just as the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Anglican Church, etc.; Catholics no longer see the Pope as being infallible, as perhaps some of them at one time they did; (3) Mary is the Mother of Jesus; she is not God, she is not of the Trinity; she is revered as being the Mother of Jesus. As for the Saints, they are viewed primarily as martyrs for their faith; they are not God, and they are not of the Trinity. They are popular because of specific associations: St. Joseph was a carpenter, so he is popular with carpenters; St. Francis (of Assisi) was what today would be called an animal rights activist, so he is popular with veterinarians, animal lovers, etc.