[Cronos]

I will fully admit that the Pope, being only human, is fallible. But then, I'm not Roman Catholic.

Well, I AM Catholic -- and we do believe the Pope is infallible ONLY when speaking on dogmatic issues and that too when speaking ex cathedra -- from the seat of Peter namely that he would have consulted the Holy spirit along with the church elders before making any pronouncement

[Modernman]

Well, I AM Catholic -- and we do believe the Pope is infallible ONLY when speaking on dogmatic issues and that too when speaking ex cathedra -- from the seat of Peter namely that he would have consulted the Holy spirit along with the church elders before making any pronouncement

Out of curiousity, how often does that happen?

My point is that relying on every Tom, Dick and Harry to interpret the Bible is a recipe for disaster. If you wanted someone to explain a principle of Jewish theology, would you go to a Rabbi with 30 years of learning under his belt or to the guy who owns the local Jewish deli? The principle remains the same when discussing the New Testament.

There's something to be said for the approach of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches (as well as certain Protestant denominations) to Bible interpretation.