Hi Nooj,
The passing words and actions of men, even popes, are not the “Catholic Church” and so they do not describe the “corruption of the Catholic Church,” but rather the corruption of men in with Church. We have had weak popes, that is certain, and sinful popes. When a pope speaks in his infallible capacity, which is expressly limited to his role as leader of the Magisterium while solemnly defining matters of faith and morals that are necessary to be held and believed by the universal Church for salvation, then we know that he is protected from error by the Holy Ghost (Matthew 16:19), which also includes an assurance from Jesus to Peter and His Church that the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it (His Church).” Unfortunately, that does not mean that the gates of hell will not try.
The Catholic Church is the ultimate prize of satan’s aims. He wants it so bad, because he knows that it is only through the Catholic faith that the little sheep escape his mashing jaws, and rush instead to paradise with our Blessed Lord, who is his enemy. It is interesting, what you say, because one of the sharpest spears which some individuals “in” the Church (especially since V2 but even before that through modernist attacks) attempt to thrust (that is, one of the commonest means of man’s corruption they advance) is exactly trying to transform the True Church into a sort of Protestantism. It will not work, but they will malevolently and pridefully thrust nonetheless. The True Church does not change: like a strong mother with twelve wild youngsters, even when her children are ignoring her and disobeying her, she stays strong and firm and does not waver, because like any good mother, she knows better than them, and she knows that if she wavers, her beloved children will be hurt. There are a lot of childish things happening with people in the Church, and there has been for a long time. Thank God (literally) that our Lord has promised us that His Church will prevail to the end of time, even if in only a small minority (“how many will I find?” asks Jesus).
There have been so many attempts by men over these two millennia to establish counterfeit churches: just ask St Athananius, who was up against some 95% of the “Catholic” bishops at the time, who were actually heretics who accepted Arianism yet appeared to be bishops (heretics lose jurisdiction in the Church, so by their very words they cast away their authority even if they kept their hats). Much later came Luther, a Catholic priest himself, who didn’t simply protest against the corruptions of men in the Church (of which there was plenty at the time, as there are now), but actually protested against the dogmatic teachings of the Church, delivered from Jesus Himself. We can see the fruits of his errors and heresies (and Calvin’s, and Zwingli, and so many others) today: as a result, there are now some 25,000 “Protestant denominations”, or counterfeit churches, wherein you’ll find every kind of horrible error and heresy, from the most common heresy that our Lord somehow lied when he said “This is My Body” (common to all Protestantism of which I am aware), to the idea that Jesus was actually just Archangel St Michael (Jehovah Witnesses), to that the idea that souls are not immortal (Seventh Day Adventists), to even the idea that humans become gods and that the Trinity is “wrong” and the Godhead is actually three distinct gods (Mormonism). The common thread through all these counterfeit churches and false religions, from the very first gnosticism Paul fought, to every Protestant denomination, is that they are all the products of some private “revelations” of mere men. Constrast this to the Catholic Church, the institution established by Jesus Christ Himself. There is no comparison. I pray that people in positions in the Church today think long and hard about that. Catholicism is only correct Christianity, and is the one true Faith as revealed by Jesus Christ personally and preserved in faith, truth, form, scripture, and tradition in his Church.
There can be no doubt that corruption of people in the Church is widespread: we only have to look so far as this outrageous and reprehensible sexual predation scandal and cover-up. We know there is corruption in the Church in the words, acts, and deeds of men. But the faith of the Church is incorruptible, because it was deposited by Christ Himself and Christ Himself protects it. Unfortunately, He has to protect His Church still from these Protestant beliefs which are being thrust at Her. No matter how many times She is struck, however, the True Church marches on. The facts of faith do not change, even if 100% of Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and pagans reject the truth, and even if 99.999% of the Catholics (in baseball caps or red caps) reject them. She keeps her gaze solidly on His beautiful face as She marches through great trials, as satan fathers yet another counterfeit church after counterfeit church and entices so many to betray from our God. This will continue until the last day, when our Lord will settle the score. We must stay true to the revealed teachings of our Lord and pray, pray, pray for the conversions of all others from spiritual blindness and willful rejection, and warn them of their errors in kindness and charity. We must likewise pray, pray, pray that we ourselves do not follow the death-dealing tongues of heretics away from our Lord, and like little sheep, get ravished by these wolves.
Our Lord has laid one path for us to Him, not 25,000 paths. He has made it as simple as it can be, if we just put away our egos and do as He asks.