[Nosterrex]

First of all, the pope is referred to as the Bishop of Rome, I've never heard him referred to as the Bishop of the Vatican. If history has told us anything, you don't have to be holy to be a pope. There were many immoral and scandalous popes. I suspect more than a few of them are in hell as we speak. If you had enough money, you could buy any office you wanted to in the Roman Church, including the papacy. You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
The popes today are not like the ones in the past, thank God! When the popes did command armies, they certainly didn't hesitate to use them. One only needs to remember the Thirty years war and the Crusades (Deus Vult). The Roman Church only hesitates to use force when they don't have it.
If the Roman Church actually cared about souls, it might try preaching the Gospel and be a truly spiritual church.
I purposely call it the Roman Church or Church of Rome, because I do not consider it a catholic church.

[presidio9]

First of all, the pope is referred to as the Bishop of Rome, I've never heard him referred to as the Bishop of the Vatican. If history has told us anything, you don't have to be holy to be a pope. There were many immoral and scandalous popes. I suspect more than a few of them are in hell as we speak. If you had enough money, you could buy any office you wanted to in the Roman Church, including the papacy. You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. The popes today are not like the ones in the past, thank God! When the popes did command armies, they certainly didn't hesitate to use them. One only needs to remember the Thirty years war and the Crusades (Deus Vult). The Roman Church only hesitates to use force when they don't have it. If the Roman Church actually cared about souls, it might try preaching the Gospel and be a truly spiritual church. I purposely call it the Roman Church or Church of Rome, because I do not consider it a catholic church.

Like a lot of people I come across who can't think of anything smart to say, you chose to address the throw-away advice at the end of my post to you. I had a lot to say, and I put a lot of thought into it. Since you are ignoring it, I will assume that you understand how wrong you were about the rest, and address the incorrect thinking that I did get from you:

I know that this is hard for you to understand, but the Vatican is a sovereign state. It is not part of the City of Rome any more than British Hong Kong was part of the People's Republic of China. Was there ever a time when an intelligent person referred to the opinions of Communist China being the same as those of Capitalist Hong Kong? Of course not, it sounds stupid even suggesting such a thing. You are correct, that the Pope IS the "Bishop of Rome." He is the direct successor to Saint Peter, in who's chair he sits. He is also the head of the Roman Catholic Church, which is the more important office, but, again, the Church needs an office. And that office is in the Vatican, not Rome. We went over all of this in my earlier post: People who have problems with Catholics (the KKK, you, etc.) refer to "Rome" because they like the comparison to paganism. No need to go over that, because you outed yourself with the rest of your post. To wit:

You spoke about immoral and scandalous popes (presumably from centuries ago). Then you suggested that the Papacy was for sale to the highest bidder (Dan Brown, is that you?). Then you began to ramble and attempted to clarify by pointing out that things aren't like that today thank God! So what was your point in bringing it up? So you could talk about the Crusades? Not sure any of this is relevant Nosty.

All of this led to your real gripe, which I'll repeat: "If the Roman Church actually cared about souls, it might try preaching the Gospel and be a truly spiritual church."

And if you had any knowledge of the modern Catholic Church you might make a credible point. I, on the other hand, know my Church quite well. Its only business is preaching the Gospel and saving souls. And I can point you to dozens of respected non-Catholics who would be happy to back me up on this. Why don't you take some time to come up with a basis for your ignorant accusation, and then get back to me.

You finished by saying that you don't consider the Roman Catholic Church to be a catholic church (of any sort). My response is, of course, that it is the one holy Catholic and apostolic Church, because that's what I and a billion other people believe. In other words, most of the people on this planet who care about such things completely disagree with you. So instead of simply stating your own unpopular opinion you should provide the basis of your opinion (hint: they don't preach the Gospel is provably false).