The point was that it is not a defining element of Catholicism that Catholics look to the Pope for leadership.
All Catholics are “citizens” so to speak of the Catholic Church, and the Pope is the head of our Church.
There are disobedient people everywhere. If you disobey your father, do you suddenly become not his child any more? Disobedient Catholics are still Catholics.
Many non-Catholics do the same, and many Catholics reject some of the things that the Pope has been leading on such as immigration.
The Pope is still the leader of the Catholic Church. Being Catholic is not a matter of feelings; it is an objective reality. Disagreeing with your leader doesn’t make him to be not your leader - and agreeing with someone else’s leader doesn’t suddenly transfer you into the other group, all by itself.
Also, you claim that pro-choice politicians have severed their communion with the Church, but this is not the position of the Catholic clergy who admit pro-choice politicians to communion.
Priests and other members of the clergy often do things for pastoral reasons that would normally not be permitted in the Church. We aren’t “people of the book” and priests are allowed to use their discretion in certain individual situations. And again, we don’t have to agree with the decision; it’s a Church; it’s not a dictatorship.
I’m sure you have remained a member in good standing with your own church even at times when you did or said or thought things that went against the official teachings of your church. It’s the same kind of thing, here.
Which brings up an interesting point - I often hear Protestants getting really upset that the Catholic Church is “so controlling” over its members, and yet at the same time, they also get so upset when it turns out that in fact, Catholicism is a voluntary religion where there aren’t actually any severe consequences when people wobble from the official teachings or practices of the Church.
