If Catholics are correct and salvation comes through the church and the sacraments and by works, then I have no problem with a Pope.
Sola Ecclesia Romanus might one day be your signature friend
Do the Catholics say salvation comes through the sacraments? Or do they say God imparts grace through the sacraments? That's a criticial difference.
As regards justification by works, the Catholics do not teach that. They teach that works are a necessary condition for salvation, because their use of the term "salvation" is not transactional, but is a process that takes a lifetime and includes the concept of sanctification. That does not make works a necessary element to justificiation.
Sola Ecclesia Romanus might one day be your signature friend
Ex ecclesia nulla salus has a better ring to it - and the endorsement of Cyprian ;-). But you mistake me. Just because I have found greater common ground between orthodox Roman Catholics and orthodox Reformed Christianity than you have found does not mean I ever intend to convert to Roman Catholicism. There are still too many deal-breakers. But, I go where the text tells me too, I read and cite as authority the Early Church Fathers and the ecumenical councils, and I subject myself to the authority of the Church Magisterium. I am a Magesterial Protestant. I define the Church more broadly than the Catholics, but still subject myself to its authority.
You mistake me as a Magesterial Protestant as showing precursors to conversion to Catholicism. I assure you that is not likely to happen.