Your pope is not the vicar of the Christ of the scriptures...Why would we admit to something we know not to be true???
Christ isn't here in person right now, He, of course was, but he ascended into Heaven.
He did , however, appoint Peter to head the church on earth and through succession, his followers. Since there is only one true christian church in the world, the Pope is the head of it.
So Jesus appointed Peter to head the Church...Then Peter denied Jesus 3 times and then ran off like a coward while Jesus was crucified...If Jesus was going to appoint anyone to head the church, it would have been John, the one who had enough faith to stay with Jesus thruout the ordeal...
But no, Jesus didn't leave us empty handed and he certainly didn't leave us with Peter...Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit...
Why would we Christians need a pope when each and every Christian is indwelt with the Holy Spirit??? We are indwelt with that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead...
Jesus told us there would be no man to be appointed to the head of the heap...
The Holy Spirit leads us believers to study the scriptures...Jesus thru the Holy Spirit has never led me any where near a Catholic church...
Many of you claim it is the queen of heaven who leads you to her son, and her/his church...
I have no spiritual inclination to be a part of that...
It has been said by some that it won't be long before catholicism pro-claims Mary above Christ and that it is thru her alone we have salvation....doing so will unite various other religions who honor a female goddess or likeness to one...New Agers, Islam, Mormons, Buddists all have a "female" representative in one form or another....and over the past years catholicism has elevated her step by careful step....So I do believe this is quite possible with the direction catholicism is taking in todays world....and has been on the table for quite some time.