The whole Saints thing and the Pope seem to contradict the “no gods before me” commandment. Many Catholics pray to the Saints as if they are deities versus directly to God.
No offense to any Catholics but the Pope is just another flawed sinner like you or I.... who was elected by other flawed sinners to the position of Pope. Was it divinely inspired? Possibly. Then again, maybe not. Maybe the whole thing is a human construct.
And this is where religion fails. When humans attempt to interpret the meaning of the Word and then deviate from its meaning whether for personal gain (power or financial) or for a true sense of righteousness.
Just my two cents. :)
You are absolutely right, the Pope is a man who happens to be elected to run a large and complex organization.....Elsie will be more than happy to point out that a few, I think that he has 10 on his list, have not been paragons of virtue.....oh well...
They have, however, through 20 centuries of running the physical and spiritual Christian church, never erred in proclamations having to do with faith and morals....that would be impossible for them to do because Christ promised that it would not happen.
I personally have some concern over our present Pope and his upcoming encyclical on climate change....as a human, he is certainly entitled to express his opinion on it, but it is of no more value than yours or mine. Catholics will not be bound by it but should respect it for what it is....an opinion from a well educated world leader.
>No offense to any Catholics but the Pope is just another flawed sinner like you or I.<
None taken. Catholics are well aware of this fact. No one is more upset about the evil people lurking in our Church than we are.