Fortunately Protestants preachers never lie, engage in sexual deviancy, greed and elitism, right?
Jesus chose Judas to be an Apostle, and Jesus warned us of wolves in sheep's clothing. So we shouldn't expect impeccability from the clergy.
But we should expect Christ's Church to lead us into "all truth" since, as the Bible says, the church is "the pillar and foundation of truth."
We also owe obedience to the discipline of the Church, since Christ gave the Apostles the authority to "bind and loose," an Old Testament term meaning ultimate ecclesiastical authority.
This is why Jesus warns us that, "if he won't listen to the church, treat him as a pagan or tax collector."
Try just believing what God the Holy Spirit has said in Holy Scripture.
Just?
While many Protestants teach this, they will not find this teaching anywhere in the Bible.
Moreover, Scripture Itself teaches us that ignorant and unstable people twist the Scriptures "to their own destruction."
Christians should trust in "the pillar and foundation of truth," as they have since Apostolic times.
Pope Clement I"Owing to the sudden and repeated calamities and misfortunes which have befallen us, we must acknowledge that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the matters in dispute among you, beloved; and especially that abominable and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-willed persons have inflamed to such madness that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be loved by all men, has been greatly defamed. . . . Accept our counsel and you will have nothing to regret. . . . If anyone disobey the things which have been said by him [God] through us [i.e., that you must reinstate your leaders], let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger. . . . You will afford us joy and gladness if being obedient to the things which we have written through the Holy Spirit, you will root out the wicked passion of jealousy" (Letter to the Corinthians 1, 58–59, 63 [A.D. 80]).
Ignatius of Antioch
"Ignatius . . . to the church also which holds the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the presidency in love, named after Christ and named after the Father" (Letter to the Romans 1:1 [A.D. 110]).
"You [the church at Rome] have envied no one, but others you have taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force" (ibid., 3:1).
Irenaeus
"But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition" (Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D. 189]).
The pillary and foundation of truth is in Christ, not Che Guevara's white-robed fellow traveler.
The pope is like the worst of the Pharisees.
Matthew:
4 They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. 5 Everything they do is just to show off in front of others.
The Vatican has billions of dollars, yet they want to steal from people who are not even Catholic in the form of draconian Cap N Trade laws and taxes.
This Pope doesn’t even believe the Bible is correct:
“Pope Francis made a significant rhetorical break with Catholic tradition Monday by declaring that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are real, and remarking that God is not “a magician with a magic wand.”
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/pope-francis-god-not-magician-magic-wand
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declares-evolution-and-big-bang-theory-are-right-and-god-isnt-a-magician-with-a-magic-wand-9822514.html
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/28/pope_francis_believes_in_evolution_and_big_bang_theory_god_is_not_a_magician_with_a_magic_wand/