Hello everyone. I’m new to this foruming thing, but the topic of this thread is one that has really been in my thoughts of late. As a devoted Christian, raised Protestant, but with a deep respect and interest for the Catholic faith, I could identify with emergingfaith’s question. I know that you Catholics have to put up with a lot from us Prostestants sometimes, but please do understand, that for Protestants genuinely and respectfully exploring the Catholic faith, questions like this one are troubling issues that we have to wrestle through and are not meant to be criticisms!
With that disclaimer out of the way, I will move on to the issue of Papal corruption. I think one of the posts I read put it rather succinctly when they said the basic question was (quoting loosely), “Does personal sin prevent the Pope from being the legitimate leader of the church?” If we looked at any other office in the church, I think most of us could agree that a certain severity of personal sin could disqualify a person for leadership. I know, for instance, in a Prostestant church (where I grew a lot as a Christian!) our pastor left his family for another woman. Our church, while sincerely praying for his repentance, did not see him any longer as a fit leader. I also saw that the church persevered and even grew through the trial, that God can strengthen us even, despite the weaknesses that sometimes occur in leadership. Of course, Prostestants have a very different view of authority than Catholics, but I think that in the Catholic church, priests might be seen as no longer fit to lead after committing a particularly grievous sin.
Welcome to the forums and I welcome your questions because they are very good and necessary for us all to understand.
We all want our leaders to be people of character because we look up to them for guidance, direction and personal emulation. Certain offices that have authority should have people in them that are also quality people. The higher the offce, the more character a person should have. This is why when one falls from high office the fall is very hard and people who once believed in them feel pain in their hearts for being let down.
This being said, we all are being attacked by Satan and sometimes we fall. In certain cases, people in high positions should be removed from their jobs and others should take over to restore trust and end any possible corruption. In the place of a Pope, it is different. The Pope is, because of the office of the chair of Peter he holds, is guided by the Holy Spirit in proclaimations of faith and morals. Where does this come from? In Matthew 16:19, Peter is given the keys to the kingdom. This is a most important scripture (along with IS ch 22) in that Peter and his successors are to keep and preserve the integrity of the faith until the master comes again at the end of time. In Luke 10:16, it is said to Peter “he who hears you hears me”, showing that Christ is not allowing something wrong to be proclaimed in His name. Hense, all the not-so-good Popes did not write anything of importance or nothing at all. The Holy Spirit was at work.
Anyway, the plan of salvation is a mystery and who knows what the Holy Spirit has in mind for us having people in power who are not up to the task. In Rom 8:28, we are told that all good and bad is to be used by God for good if we have faith. So we have faith that God knows what He is doing and our faith is also in us knowing He is in control.
mdcpensive1
