Vatican Reveals Letter on Henry VIII’s Papal Plea

NY Slimes ^ | 5/12/2009 | ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

[meandog]

Our Catholic friends need to understand that the Rome and Papacy that Luther, Calvin, Cranmer etc dealt with was a very, very different place than today. If today’s Rome were in place back then, there would’t have been a Protestant Reformation. The Council of Trent corrected many of the problems, but unfortunately it came too late. Lines had been drawn and blood had been spilled on both sides.

Exactamundo! Had there not be some extremely corrupt and evil popes, the Christian world might have indeed remained "Catholic" (one great church)...but too many, RCs will not accept that fact. Besides there is no Biblical prescription, IMO, that calls for the "Bishop of Rome" to be any greater in rank than any other bishop ( incidentally, this was the spark that set off the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western churches ). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not in disagreement with a top bishop having certain power but I do believe that historic popes have erred in certain matters. Perhaps had the church been set up with a council of elders where there could have been a majority decision on matters with the top bishop having some kind of veto power (which could be overruled by the council) that would not have happened.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 5/13/2009. Thanks markomalley. Just doing some housekeeping, no ping.