It amazes me that you post that and still don’t understand the error of putting some man on a pedestal. You try to associate all Protestants with Luther and his evil yet you don’t do the same with Catholics and the many, many evil popes. The hypocrisy is stunning. We should perhaps ask Elsie to re-post his list of evil popes and have you address how you should be associated with each of their evil deeds.
Thanks for the ping....
....”the error of putting some man on a pedestal”.....
Thus they will be easily led to believe the great deception when it comes.... Already indoctrinated to “ worship” a leader, (either directly or indirectly), these are those most easily swayed to believe a lie.
We understand that God can use men as Caiaphas, and that infallibility is both limited and not a claim to impeccability, but these men are claimed to be the Holy Spirit’s choices to replace Peter, and thus the contrast is even more pronounced.
The only way this can be justified is to invoke the choice of Judas by the Lord, but this places Rome in the position of essentially choosing successors to Judas, as some popes seemed to be more like him than Peter.
Luther has been charged with being a fornicator upon the premise that marriage that is not sanctioned by Rome is fornication (which, considering the multitudes of RCs who have received annulments based on various grounds for them, potentially leaves multitude more RCs as living in fornication), but consider,
Popes sexually active before receiving Holy Orders
Pope Pius II (1458–1464) had at least two illegitimate children, one in Strasbourg and one in Scotland, both born before he entered the clergy. Pius delayed becoming a cleric because of the requirement of chastity.[12]
Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492) had two illegitimate children during his youth, both born before he entered the clergy.[13] His nepotism towards these has been described as “lavish as it was shameless” [14] He married off his elder son Franceschetto Cybo to the daughter of Lorenzo de’ Medici, who in return obtained the cardinal’s hat for his thirteen-year-old son Giovanni, later Pope Leo X. Savonarola chastised him for his worldly ambitions.[15]
Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) had one illegitimate son before he took holy orders, identified as Alessandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence.[16]
Popes who were sexually active after receiving Holy Orders[edit]
Pope Julius II (1503–1513) had three illegitimate daughters, one of whom was Felice della Rovere (born in 1483, twenty years before his election as pope, but twelve years after his enthronement as Bishop of Lausanne).[17] The schismatic Conciliabulum of Pisa, which sought to depose him in 1511, accused him of being a “sodomite covered with shameful ulcers.” [18]
Pope Paul III (1534–1549) who, according to some sources, held off ordination in order to continue his promiscuous lifestyle, fathering four illegitimate children (three sons and one daughter) by his mistress Silvia Ruffini after his appointment as Cadinal-Deacon of Santi Cosimo and Damiano. He broke his relations with her ca. 1513. There is no evidence of sexual activity during his papacy.[citation needed] He made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the first Duke of Parma.[19][20]
Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585) received the ecclesiastical tonsure in Bologna in June 1539, but subsequently had an affair with Maddalena Fulchini which resulted in the birth of a son, Giacomo Boncompagni, in 1548. Giacomo remained illegitimate but his father later appointed him Gonfalonier of the
Popes accused of being sexually active during pontificate[edit]
Pope Sergius III (904–911) was accused by his opponents of being the illegitimate father of Pope John XI by Marozia.[23] These accusations are found in Liutprand of Cremona’s Antapodosis,[24] as well as the Liber Pontificalis.[25][26][27] The accusations are disputed by another early source, the annalist Flodoard (c. 894–966): John XI was brother of Alberic II, the latter being the offspring of Marozia and her husband Alberic I, so John too may have been the son of Marozia and Alberic I. Bertrand Fauvarque emphasizes that the contemporary sources backing up this parenthood are dubious, Liutprand being “prone to exaggeration” while other mentions of this fatherhood appear in satires written by supporters of late Pope Formosus.[28]
Pope John X (914–928) had romantic affairs with both Theodora and her daughter Marozia, according to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis.[29][30](See also Saeculum obscurum)
Pope John XII (955–963) was accused by his adversaries of adultery and incest.[31][32] The monk Benedict of Soracte noted in his volume XXXVII that he “liked to have a collection of women”. According to Liutprand of Cremona in his Antapodosis,[24] “they testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father’s concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse.” According to E. R. Chamberlin, John XII was “a Christian Caligula whose crimes were rendered particularly horrific by the office he held”.[33] Some sources report that he was rumoured to have died 8 days after being stricken by paralysis while in the act of adultery,[31] others that he was killed by the jealous husband while in the act of committing adultery.[34][35][36][37] (See also Saeculum obscurum)
Pope Benedict IX (1032– became pope in 1044, again in 1045 and finally 1047–1048).[38] He was accused by Bishop Benno of Piacenza of “many vile adulteries.”[39][40] Pope Victor III referred in his third book of Dialogues to “his rapes... and other unspeakable acts.”[41] His life prompted Saint Peter Damian to write an extended treatise against illicit sex in general, and homosexuality in particular. In his Liber Gomorrhianus, Damian accused Benedict IX of routine sodomy and bestiality and sponsoring orgies.[42] In May 1045, Benedict IX resigned his office to pursue marriage.[43]
Pope Paul II (1464–1471) is popularly thought to have died due to indigestion arising from eating melon in excess,[44][45] though a rumour was spread by his detractors that he died while engaging in sodomy.[46]
Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) was alleged to have awarded gifts and benefices to court favourites in return for sexual favours. Giovanni Sclafenato was created a cardinal by Sixtus for “ingenuousness, loyalty,...and his other gifts of soul and body”, according to the papal epitaph on his tomb.[47][48]
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) had a long affair with Vannozza dei Cattanei while still a priest, but before he became pope; and by her had his illegitimate children Cesare, Giovanni Borgia, Gioffre Borgia, and Lucrezia. A later mistress, Giulia Farnese, was the sister of Alessandro Farnese, and she gave birth to a daughter (Laura) while Alexander was in his 60s and consecrated as pope[49]. Alexander fathered at least seven, and possibly as many as ten illegitimate children, and did much to promote his family’s interests - using his offspring to build alliances with a number of important dynasties.[50] He appointed Giovanni Borgia as Captain General of the Church, and made Cesare a Cardinal of the Church - also creating independent duchies for each of them out of papal lands.
Pope Leo X (1513–1521) was allegedly a practising homosexual, according to some modern and contemporary sources (Francesco Guicciardini and Paolo Giovio). He was alleged to have had a particular (albeit one-sided) infatuation for Marcantonio Flaminio.[51]
Pope Julius III (1550–1555) was alleged to have had a long affair with Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte. The Venetian ambassador at that time reported that Innocenzo shared the pope’s bed.[52] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sexually_active_popes
Why???
"They were merely men.
The CHURCH; however; is infallible!"