Actually it adds to my struggle. The pope insists on washing muslim feet on Holy Thursday...2 years in a row, he refers to muslims as his ‘brothers and sisters’ and hosts islamic prayers at the Vatican. I believe islam is evil and the product of Satan. the pope seems to think it’s just honky dory.
Always remember that this is the Church and the faith that was left to the Apostles and thence to us. As with any human institution, the humans can be annoying, they can also be saintly. Be the saintly one and you will please God and attract converts. The battle has already been won, we are just here choosing sides.
Sounds to me as if you are already out the door of the Church and on your way to the local Protestant church.
Well, as a Protestant you won't have to deal with confession, penance, the Holy Eucharist, obligatory Sunday Mass and once-a-year confession and Holy Eucharist.
You can get divorced and remarried ALL YOU WANT. No more rosaries, First Fridays, Benedictions, Sacraments, nuthin' REQUIRED for being a Protestant.
No more Lent, meatless Fridays during Lent. No more popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns and brothers. No more Vatican setters, papal messages, Showing results for encynicals.
I could go on and on about the obligations of being a Catholic but then you already know about them. But because of some sinful clergy you are out the door and giving up the Faith of your Fathers.
Well, you've got all your excuses reasons for dumping the Catholic Church. You can now go right to the Protestant church and be required to do nothing, ever, for any reason.
And when you commit a sin, no matter HOW egregious, all you gotta do is say: "I'm sorry, Lord." And bim sala bim you know that they are forgiven.
Good luck in your new EASY path to the Lord. I'm sure you will enjoy it, especially telling all your future Protestant fellow worshipers ALL ABOUT the horrors of the 2000 year old Roman Catholic Church.
Christmas will still be Christmas. Easter will always be Easter...and you can enjoy them without any nasty ole Roman Catholic "rules and regulations."
You can even start trashing "papists."
Do you think that any of your new Protestant friends will wonder when THEIR particular branch of Protestantism will start to fall under your disfavor?
Not a problem. There are 30,000 different Protestant denominations for you to try. THAT should take care of you for your remaining life time.
If you think an entire faith, Islam, of hundreds of millions of humans is the devil's work, then I don't doubt that you will find BUNCHES of stuff to dislike about ANY faith, Judaism, Christianity AND Islam.
From Wikipedia: As of 2010, over 1.6 billion or about 23.4% of the world population are Muslims.
Of these, around 62% live in Asia-Pacific, 20% in the Middle East-North Africa, 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa, around 3% in Europe, and 0.3% in the Americas.
So, those 1.6 billion folks are all going to hell???
I'll let GOD judge them. But you go ahead and judge them too. You seem to like that,
HEY! There is always Hinduism. There are some 300 million different "faces" of God. You could spend LOTS of time THERE losing faith in them.
Then, you can sample the eastern faiths, Buddhism, Jainism, Shinto, etc. Wow, what a journey you have in front of you.
Huzzah for you.
.
.
Am I being harsh??
Is it any wonder? The Catholic Church says you all serve the same god.
CCC841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.
Would you say you serve the same god as the Muslims? It looks like that is the official position of the Catholic Church.