To deny that the Pope is Catholic, is to deny that there is a Church. Simply put, if the Pope is not Catholic, then neither are you.
The faithful must disobey him to his face if necessary in the areas where he has himself become a heretic.
Ah, so it is the job of the 'faithful' to decide the doctrine of the Church. Each man a Pope unto himself.
Trust me, many upon upon many have come to that point of decision, and the weight of all the were familiar with, all that they had know in their life, family, friends, community, all the regular habits of the calendar and their daily comings and goings, even their body's own habits and chemistry -- all were the inertia, the cladding that kept them from making that decision towards knowing G-d the more. Rather all that weight then waits to be shed in the realms beyond, and likely as not to some unimaginably great sadness and aggravation therein.
Yet G-d is execeedingly merciful.
It is your choice. He loves to give you them to make.
Close, but I don't think there is any such thing as a Pope. Each man *does* have a relationship with God, but that is because they are Men, not because they are each one of them a Pope.
At least, that's how I look at it. Obviously, I'm *not* a Catholic.
Tuor