History ping
No.... it’s about putting someone between you and God and making money. Plain and simple.
The whole Saints thing and the Pope seem to contradict the “no gods before me” commandment. Many Catholics pray to the Saints as if they are deities versus directly to God.
No offense to any Catholics but the Pope is just another flawed sinner like you or I.... who was elected by other flawed sinners to the position of Pope. Was it divinely inspired? Possibly. Then again, maybe not. Maybe the whole thing is a human construct.
And this is where religion fails. When humans attempt to interpret the meaning of the Word and then deviate from its meaning whether for personal gain (power or financial) or for a true sense of righteousness.
Just my two cents. :)
The only “priests” in the New Testament ekklesia is Christ as High Priest and the priesthood of all believers. The offices in the Catholic Church are false and those who hold them wouldn’t even qualify as Bishops in the New Testament ekklesia.
Hell no! I don’t believe in manmade global warming either!
NO and also Jesus did not say form secret societies.