Non-Catholics: The Papacy, Good for Christianity or Bad?

[IGotQuestions]

What say you?

 

[meltzerboy]

What say you?

It’s not really for me to say one way or the other. If you mean the office of the papacy, that is a given as it is part and parcel of Catholic belief and teaching. Insofar as the Pope himself is concerned, if he is a “good one,” as is the current Pope Francis, I think that benefits not only Christendom but the rest of the world as well.

 

[MaryT777]

Interested in the answers…subscribed.

 

[LutheranScholar]

 

[Lenten_ashes]

:coffeeread:

 

[GLam8833]

I have come to the conviction that the
Pope is the Face of the Church in the world,
just as the Cardinals, Bishops and
priests are the Shoulders of the Church,
while the Charitable organizations are
the Hands and the New Evangelization
organizations are the Feet and Voice!!

 

[Reuben_J]

It’s what Christianity is. Instituted and commanded by Jesus himself. There is no option.

 

[benjohnson]

As a Lutheran, I’m saddened by the modern development of the papal office - as it continues to lead to fraction between Catholics and the Orthodox and ourselves.

That said, recent Bishops of chair of St. Peter have been a blessing for all of Christianity.

 

[WilliamE]

I suspect that for most non-Catholics, the papacy is irrelevant.

 

[Reuben_J]

I suspect that for most non-Catholics, the papacy is irrelevant.

I guess you are right but there are certainly a portion of non-Catholics that practically build their theology on the fact that the papacy is wrong. Some of these people can be quite obsessed with it.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

As a Lutheran, I’m saddened by the modern development of the papal office - as it continues to lead to fraction between Catholics and the Orthodox and ourselves.

That said, recent Bishops of chair of St. Peter have been a blessing for all of Christianity.

By “modern” do you mean the time since 1870, when papal infallibility was formally defined? Do you mean the 15th century onward (the “Modern Era”)? 1520 in particular, when the Pope issued Exsurge Domine? What era of the papal office would you find agreeable or at least acceptable?

 

[alwayswill]

What say you?

bad:

“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

No Apostle ever taught that was a requirement for salvation

 

[meltzerboy]

bad:

“Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”

No Apostle ever taught that was a requirement for salvation

Where does that quotation come from in Catholic teaching? If valid, might it not have a different interpretation?

 

[JonNC]

I suspect that for most non-Catholics, the papacy is irrelevant.

I don’t see how it can be, with the pope being the leader of over a billion of us.

As to the OP, in my lifetime, the papacy has been a general blessing to the faith, with men like Benedict and John Paul, etc