You are an American. Many Americans are ignorant about how the word “pray” is used in the English language outside of the United States. You seem to be included in that group which is ignorant about what the word means.
The Catholic Church is a Universal Church so it can’t have different meanings in the US relative to the rest of the English-speaking world. The Catholic Church will continue to use the word pray the way it is used around the world (and historically) regardless of what your definition is.
The bible doesn’t have real contradictions. It has apparent contradictions that can only be understood by an authority that has ties to the apostles. How recently did your church come up with its interpretation of those two verses, relative to the Catholic Church?
You are using an argument that most would not agree is true to support your claim, namely that the popes claim a direct line of succession from the apostles. And that is a key difference for Catholics and non-Catholics. And keep in mind that the doctrines concerning Mary came about almost 300 years after Christ.
Who are you? Clinton's attorney? We're gonna start parsing what pray means??
Good grief....this is about the lamest argument I've ever heard.