The guy we say is the current successor to Peter is picking up a few deserved rebukes.
I kinda like the idea that -- within the overarching consideration that IHS and faith in him are primary and that the Holy Scriptures are an anchor and canon -- the general run of popes would be, at best, uneven characters, as cantankerous as Paul, as passionately and impulsively oafish as כיפא.
After all, even with our peacock panoply of popes and cardinals and bishops (and our chaste and somber, black-and-white Dominic) it is God alone who sanctifies and directs us. Even if he gives, as we assert, certain gifts and guarantees to those in certain offices and ministries, still it is he upon whom we rely.
After the (as I see it) blessings of JP2 and PapaBenXVI, I suspect it's probably to my benefit to have a pope who gives me the hives almost every time he opens his mouth. It's like when I was driving a trailer full of sheep in a snow storm -- a great boost the the fervor of my prayers.
I think I can see and understand a lot of what you’re saying.
And despite all the rancor that I have against some of the people on the thread, if you want to be Catholic, be my guest. Despite my very loud objections against what I see as false, there’s still a lot of truth in what Catholicism teaches—it’s just that it almost never comes up because we’re all in agreement about large swaths of doctrine.
I just hope that you continue to depend on Christ for your salvation. Because I don’t want anyone to go to Hell!