Very good post. The Pope seems to be such a point of contention between Catholics and others (wasn't the Pope at the center of the original schism in 1066?).
But if he was better understood, at least as his role within the church, many of those contentions could be dismissed me thinks. For instance, many non-Catholics think that the Pope is viewed as infallible on all matters, which is of course untrue. The biggest problem, if you ask me, is that the Pope is just a man. Anytime you put a man out front as a leader of billions of people, perception of those people becomes subject to the natural shortcomings of that one person. Benedict's recent "problems" are indicative of that. On 7/17/07, Russel Madere <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > When was the last time that happened? I hasn't been in my lifetime. > > As for the men, I agree. The current Pope is playing a little too much > with the Vatican II reforms. I will also point out that Pope John Paul II > made much the same statements during his first year as Pope. He followed > them with more ecuminical statements later. > > finally, there is no "wierd devotion" to the Pope. He is our human leader > chosen for his theological traits. Completely human and fallible. There > are rare times when the Pope will be expected to speak "ex cathedra." These > are very rare and affect areas of church dogma. This will always follow a > period of prayer and careful deliberation. It is never done lightly or on a > subject besides dogma. If it were, the church would, correctly, reject it. > > >You want arrogance, wait until the Pope speaks "ex cathedra".....then > he's > >infallible. > > > >I like Catholics, but their weird devotion to the Pope > is...well...puzzling. > >That being said, JP 2 was a saint of a man...just phenomenal. Benny The > 16th > >isn't off to a very rousing start imho. > > > >On 7/17/07, Russel Madere <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 The most significant release in over 10 years. Upgrade & see new features. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJR Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:238488 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
