There is no claim by the Catholics that the Pope is God or Messiah.
Oh really?
The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII says this: But to believe that our Lord God the Pope the establisher of said decretal, and of this, could not decree, as he did decree, should be accounted heretical. [The Gloss of Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, Cum. Inter, title 14, chapter 4, "Ad Callem Sexti Decretalium", Column 140 (Paris, 1685). In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, the words, Dominum Deum Nostrum Papam ("Our Lord God the Pope") can be found in column 153[
Just recently, in 2004, Bishop Patrick Dunn of Auckland said this: "It seems that Pope John Paul II now presides over the universal Church from his place upon Christ's cross. [http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/auckland-bishop-says-pope-presides-from-the-cross]
we readily understand the devotion of Saint Francis of Assisi for "the Lord Pope",the daughterly outspokenness of Saint Catherine of Siena towards the one whom she called "sweet Christ on earth", the apostolic obedience and the sentire cum Ecclesia of Saint Ignatius Loyola,and the joyful profession of faith made by Saint Teresa of Avila: "I am a daughter of the Church" [Pope John Paul II, Vita Consecrata (March 25, 1996): vatican.va.]
Of course not.