Quote:
Originally posted by brianna
Today it seems that the biggest complaints that protestants have with the catholic faith is the idolization of the pope and the saints.
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The most unfortunate thing about that, and this is coming from a Catholic, is that I think a lot of people really don't understand how much importance, or lack of, Catholicism actually puts on the pope and the Saints, or the way in which the importance is placed...and I include many Catholics in this as well. I could go on a great deal about those misunderstandings but this isn't the place to do so. As a simple point of example, regarding papal infallibility, that is something that only applies under strict conditions - called speaking
ex cathedra - and happens almost never. The position of the pope (meaning all popes, not any one particular) has only spoken
ex cathedra once since the doctrine of papal infallibility was written up at the first Vatican Council in 1870.
On subject, there really isn't any reason Catholicism should be seperated from the rest of Christianity by any consideration. I think, really, in America it's a matter of practicality. Most of America is used to "Christianity" in reference to a protestant religion. So, Catholicism is named seperately to distinguish it from what America is used to being exposed to as far as Christianity. That's pure conjecture. Ultimately, on the important points, there's little to no difference.