I can’t understand either what’s this pretension held by many Catholics that they can judge the Pope at every instance. I see it as larger than just the Pope. We've seen many examples of this in the Religion Forum, of Catholics standing as judge over many aspects of Catholic thought:
- the church did/didn't go off the rails with Vatican II
- non-Catholics can/can't go to Heaven
- the apparitions at Medjugorje can/can't be questioned
- bishops are/aren't allowed to give communion to pro-abort politicians
- the Vatican is/isn't lying about the third secret of Fatima.
Is it dissent to challenge a lay Catholic's beliefs? Is there
anything to which a lay Catholic, or even a non-Catholic, may hold a priest, bishop, Cardinal or Pope accountable to? Who/what decides and defines what constitutes dissent? If you have any explanations or theories, I'd love to hear them.