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“The problem of course from the beginning is having a Pope to begin with. Having a human being between you and Christ. Protestants believe it is not necessary. There is the rub.”

I think the rub is the prominence of Scripture. Protestants put Scripture above all else for matters of faith and practice. Roman Catholics place the Pope’s interpretation of Scripture above all else for matters of faith and practice.

All differences flow from that, as I see it. When we argue about this sacrament or that doctrine, the Protestant appeals to a verse from the Bible, or a group of verses. The Roman Catholic appeals to the Pope’s or the Holy See’s statements. Then we are at an impasse.

That’s why the big cry of the Reformation was, “Sola Scriptura.” (Scripture alone)

I say this without hatred, by the way.

Roman Catholics place the Pope’s interpretation of Scripture above all else for matters of faith and practice.

your statemetn shows common Protestant mis-information on what The Church actually teaches. It's not "the Pope's interpretation" -- all that we believe is a belief of The Church as a whole. This is not the pope's personal interpretation.

Any statement ex-cathedra comes from the council of bishops and MUST be supported by scripture and holy tradition.

When we argue about this sacrament or that doctrine, the Protestant appeals to a verse from the Bible, or a group of verses. The Roman Catholic appeals to the Pope’s or the Holy See’s statements. --> that's again incorrect. We argue from scripture, not from some pope's statements. There's a lovely thread here that explains the illogicality of sola scriptura.

The Roman Catholic appeals to the Pope’s or the Holy See’s statements

Well, ultimately, the Holy Scripture, too, is a product of the Church.

However, if you study any doctrinal dispute between Catholics and Protestants in depth you will find that the scripture agrees with the Catholics. There are quotes from the scripture that have plausible Protestant explanation as well as equally plausible Catholic explanation. There are quotes that have no plausible Protestant explanation. There are none that do not have a plausible Catholic explanation. The notion that Protestantism somehow follows in its entirety from the scripture is false.

For example, the simple quote, taken entirely in its intended context (I just quote the punchline):

by works a man is justified; and not by faith only (James 2:24)

-- causes a Protestant to spend kilobytes of circumlocution to "prove" that St. James did not really mean it when he wrote it. At best, that would show a verse or two from a discourse by St. Paul on an unrelated matter that still does not controvert the above quote.