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To: cothrige
I think you will find simply by reading the posts of Catholics here on FR that many feel no such compulsion as you imply. They are quite comfortable pointing out when he says something ridiculous, and I am confident it causes no trouble with their faith. That is because there is nothing in the Catholic faith which maintains that any pope is necessarily right in anything he says, outside of a very tiny sliver of very specific teachings.

Well, it's easy when it's the internet and anonymous.

Can Catholics vote out a bad pope? Can they do ANYTHING about a bad pope?

I know of non-Catholic denominations where the pastor started teaching stuff that was off base and he was GONE.

Not an option for Catholics.....

30 posted on 07/13/2014 8:37:28 PM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: metmom
Can Catholics vote out a bad pope? Can they do ANYTHING about a bad pope?

Huh? I don't follow. What does that have to do with having to support the statements of popes when they are wrong?

I know of non-Catholic denominations where the pastor started teaching stuff that was off base and he was GONE.

Not an option for Catholics.....

No, not an option for us, but neither does it mean what you said above. There is no compulsion on any Catholic to defend erroneous statements from popes. It just isn't so. Our faith doesn't include that kind of cult of personality.

Oh, and by the way, this from above is also way off base:

Speak up and your eternal destiny is on the line. Believing as they do that their priests have the power to forgive or RETAIN a person's sin, or that the church can ex-communicate them, they're in a really tough spot.

Where do you even come up with that? Do you think that priests have to call to Rome and ask the pope personally whether they can give absolution in confession because the penitent had criticised the pope's comments in an interview? And how would any priest, who doesn't see your face or usually know who you are in confession even know you didn't agree with a comment from the pope? What kind of clerical network do you think is in place, and what do you think happens in confession? Just to clarify for you there is actually no oath that we believe every statement made by the pope, even in private or in off the cuff interviews, is straight from God. You list your sins by type and number and he prays for you and absolves you. Period. No hotlines to Rome, and no clerical spy rings to monitor whether people are properly supporting the popes interview comments.

36 posted on 07/13/2014 8:57:07 PM PDT by cothrige
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