Well...I’m sure the Pope is a good man, but...guess what....here it comes....heresy...I know............the Pope is a sinner just as every other man since the beginning of time. He is no more holy than you and I.
“ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”. Romans 3:23
Said in love and respect.
We should keep all of our leaders in our prayers, including our earlthly religious leaders. 1Timothy 2:1-3
May his presence help a bleeding and sick land back to peace. My heart weeps for Mexico—they have endured too much due to corruption and gangs. I see only revolution—maybe Communism and all the horrors of that system to stop the gangs that have ruined that nation. Let the peace of the Pope be as a bandage upon there souls.
It would seem that you do not know the difference between infalliability and impeccability.
Every Pope goes to Confession — sometimes daily.
But decisions of faith and morals pronounced through him or the Magisterium are infalliable.
Please check those two meanings.
*****.heresy...I know............the Pope is a sinner*****
Not heresy. Throughout salvation history, God has chosen sinners to reveal Himself to our fathers in faith and to us. There is no heresy is knowing the pope is a sinner in need of God’s saving grace, through Jesus.
*****Said in love and respect.*****
But, in error. It’s okay, it is common for people to not know or misunderstand the teachings of the Church.
*****We should keep all of our leaders in our prayers, including our earlthly religious leaders. 1Timothy 2:1-3****
Absolutely.
We know he is a sinner! Hello! The title Holy Father does not mean Eternal Father. A long history of misinformation and false views of who he is blurs the truth.
A sinner, yes; but to say that all believers are equally holy does not strike me as biblical. At any rate, what captivated the Mexicans in this case is a twofold holiness (IMHO):
First, the holiness of his office as the Vicar of Christ - he is, after all, the Successor of St. Peter (this is a historical fact, and not just a theological reality);
Second, his personal holiness. Jesus exhorts us to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy and St. Paul makes it clear that this is the will of God, our sanctification. While it is the will of God that all be saved, that all be holy, unfortunately few are those who correspond to that call.
Thank you for writing with "in love and respect". There are already more than enough hotheads blogging nowadays ;-)
May the Lord bless you and keep you!
Please read the following story, which I believe to be true (taken from the blog "Roma locuta est"):
A priest friend of Scott Hahn's had returned from Rome and told Mr. Hahn this story. The priest was on his way to a private audience with the Pope but was running early. He thus decided to stop in a church to pray before his meeting. On the steps of the church were a number of beggars, something fairly common in Rome. As he approached the church, the priest thought that he recognized one of the beggars. After entering the sanctuary he knelt down to pray, whereupon he remembered how he knew the man. The priest immediately rushed out and approached the familiar beggar exclaiming, “I know you. Didn’t we go to seminary together?”
The man gave a humble affirmative.
“So you are a priest then?” he said to the beggar.
The man replied, “Not anymore. I fell off the deep end. Leave me alone.”
The priest mindful of his approaching appointment with the Holy Father, said nothing more than, “I’ll pray for you.” The familiar man replied, “A lot of good that will do.” With that, the priest left the man on the steps and departed for his meeting.
These sorts of meetings with the Pope are typically very formal. There are any number of people who have been granted a private audience at the same time, and when the Holy Father makes his way around to you, his secretary hands him a blessed rosary, and he in turn hands it to you. At this point, one would probably kiss the Pope’s ring and say something heartfelt, yet almost generic, such as asking him to pray for you, telling him you are praying for him, or thanking him for his service to the Church. However, when Pope John Paul II approached, the priest couldn’t help himself and blurted out, “Please pray for my friend.” Not only this, but the priest continued to blurt out the entire story. The Holy Father, looking concerned, assured the priest that he would pray for his friend.
Later that day, the priest received a letter from the Vatican. Excited and curious, he rushed with the letter back to the church where he last saw his classmate. Only a few beggars were left, and as luck (or grace) would have it, his friend was among the few. He approached the man and said, “I have been to see the Pope, and he said he would pray for you as well.”
The man listened.
“There’s more. He has invited you and me to his private residence for dinner.”
“Impossible,” said the man, “Look at me. I am a mess. I haven’t showered in God knows how long, and my clothes ...” Sensing the gravity of the situation (and understanding that this man was his admission ticket to have dinner with the Pope), the priest said, “I have a hotel room across the street where you can shower and shave, and I have clothes that will fit you.”
By the grace of God, the man agreed, and so the two of them were off to have dinner with Pope John Paul II.
The hospitality was wondrous. Near the close of dinner, just before dessert, the Holy Father motioned to the priest who didn’t understand what the Pope was trying to say. Finally, the secretary explained, “He want us to leave,” at which point the priest and the secretary left the Holy Father alone with the beggar.
After fifteen minutes, the man emerged from the room in tears.
“What happened in there?” asked the priest.
The most remarkable and unexpected reply came.
“He asked me to hear his confession,” choked the beggar. After regaining composure, the man continued, “I told him, ‘Your Holiness, look at me. I am a beggar. I am not a priest.’
“The Pope looked at me and said, ‘My son, once a priest always a priest, and who among us is not a beggar. I too come before the Lord as a beggar asking for forgiveness of my sins.’ I told him I was not in good standing with the Church, and he assured me that as the Bishop of Rome he could reinstate me then and there.”
The man then relayed that it had been so long since he had heard a confession that the Pope had to help him through the words of absolution.
The priest asked, “But you were in there for fifteen minutes. Surely the Pope’s confession did not last that long.”
“No,” said his friend, “But after I heard his confession, I asked him to hear mine.”
The final words spoken by Pope John Paul II to this prodigal son came in the form of a commission. The Holy Father gave the newly-reconciled priest his first assignment: to go and minister to the homeless and the beggars on the steps of the very church from where he just came.
The only words I can add to the incredible story are this: what a humble example we have in Pope John Paul the Great. Here is a man that was able to see not only Jesus Christ, but also the Priesthood of Christ, in the eyes of a fallen-away beggar. Not only that, but he bowed before the beggar in humility with full awareness of his own sinfulness. In doing so, the Pope gave the man the opportunity to perform the only priestly act that was immediately available to him.
As a closing remark, it is said that Pope John Paul II went to confession every week. Would that we follow this example, how many of us would be saints.
I’m a Catholic and yes, we know that the Pope, like all of us is a sinner and all of us are under God’s grace.