Quote:
Originally Posted by JumpinJesus
I thought God picked the Pope and the Pope spoke for god and going against the pope was going against god and going against god will get you sent straight to hell. What good is catholicism if everyone ignores the crazy old man in charge of it?
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The simple answer is: no. Fact is, there's so much misinformation that a lot of Catholics don't even realize what the pope does and does not represent.
The pope is elected by the college of cardinals, and while he is considered to be the spiritual descendant of the apostle Peter and therefore the leader of the Catholic church, he is not synonymous with god in any way whatsoever. The only time the pope is infallible is when speaking
ex cathedra, and there are only 7 instances of that in the entire history of the Catholic church.
That's not to say that it's considered acceptable to ignore the pope's teachings - he's still the leader of the church after all - but it's important to understand when the pope is and is not considered infallible, especially since the Catholic church also holds personal conscience in high regard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mixedmedia
But it doesn't take much observation to notice that very many and I will even go so far as to say most Catholics do not believe or adhere to the policies and restrictions handed down by the Vatican. Therefore, I don't understand the continuing hegemony that the Vatican holds over the church. I didn't set out to offend anyone, but sometimes offense is unavoidable.
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Very many I can agree with, but I don't think it's most by any means. Again, the fastest growing regions for Catholicism are Africa and then South America. Granted there is the whole issue of liberation theology in South America (thanks for pointing that out roachboy - it's a big part of that "potential" I spoke about in my first post), but for the most part Catholics in those regions take church leadership rather seriously. And then there are still plenty of people in America and Europe who take it seriously. I've always found it interesting, as someone who was raised Catholic, but rather liberally, how often I have come across conservative Catholics, or people who have experienced more conservative Catholicism and have formed their opinions of the church based on that. And I think it's a big reason why, while I no longer consider myself a believer of any sort, I still see positive social
potential within the Catholic church, even with the Vatican present. I don't think it's moving in that direction at all, and so I agree that the Vatican is outdated, but it is not even close to being irrelevant. There are still a LOT of Catholics who listen to it.
That's about all I have to add at this point, because I agree pretty much 100% with
roachboy here. There's no doubt that less sex would also help the AIDS issue, but that's no reason to oppose distribution of condoms, and the proper context is necessary for the pope's statements, which includes why he reaches such a conclusion.