Supporting the Pope

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Jerome7

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I feel that our primary role, as members of the faithful, is to support Pope Francis. I don’t know the specifics of his decision in dealing with accused leaders, but I would simply trust his judgment. I don’t agree with those who say that the Pope should tell us everything, and explain his decisions. That will just lead to more criticisms of the Pope, and more people substituting their judgment for his.

I’m getting pretty tired of reading Catholic blog posts and articles where each author stands in judgment over the Pope and explains what he’s doing wrong.
 
I feel that our primary role, as members of the faithful, is to support Pope Francis.
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I thought our primary role is to live our lives in accordance with God’s will and to spread the Good News?

On a side note (not directed at anyone in particular), I agree with supporting the pope, in that we are called to love him will his good just like any other person. However, I think it’s important to point out that loving/supporting someone doesn’t mean you must agree with everything they do. It’s perfectly reasonable to ask HH for clarifications on the letter and his help in distinguishing truth from fact.
 
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I think that supporting the Pope means praying for him.

I do not think that supporting the Pope excludes fraternal correction. That is how we got into this whole scandal. Everyone supported the bishops, no one corrected them, and look where we are now.

The bishops did not want to damage the reputation of priests, so they covered up for them. Diocesan officials did not want to see the Church’s reputation harmed by a one-person scandal so they covered it up, and now we have hundreds of priests (if not thousands) and thousands and thousands of victims, and the reputation of the Church is in tatters not only because of these criminal acts, not only because of the multiplication of the acts, but because of the reputation-protecting cover-up itself.

The pope has said some things which have challenged me to change my mind, and has taught me about mercy. For this, I am grateful to this pope.

But wrt to his inexplicable actions, the AL footnote qnd his reactions, his comments about the Chilean victims, and now this… He is supposed to be a shepherd, not a Wizard of Oz.
 
amen brother

and he is the global pope, he does not belong to any one country
 
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Annie said:
The pope has said some things which have challenged me to change my mind, and has taught me about mercy. For this, I am grateful to this pope.
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You could say that about many persons, authors, politicians, family members.

The Pope has a unique role, and so he must be treated differently. We must give our submission to the Pope as the head of the Church on earth, and give the religious submission of our mind and will to his teachings, even those that are not infallible.
 
If he says the Cardinals are going to win the Superbowl…?
 
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Where has it ever been taught that our primary role is to support the pope? Isn’t our primary role what we vow to do in our baptismal vows? Do you think St. Paul failed in his primary duty when he rebuked St. Peter publicly for his hypocrisy? When I became a Christian, it was not to St. John Paul II that I was turning my heart over. To live and die for Jesus: that’s the meaning and primary role of a Christian.
 
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Exactly, the pope is a servant of Christ. Not Christ. The pope and you have the same primary role: To live for the same Lord Jesus! It is extremely problematic for a Christian to claim that his primary role is to support a pope or anyone else not Christ rather than to live and die for his Lord, Jesus. Otherwise why have the label CHRISTian? We are not pope worshippers. At least I am not. And the Church has never ever taught that our primary duty is to support any pope, not even St. Peter.
 
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Rubee said:
The pope and you have the same primary role: To live for the same Lord Jesus!
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actually the pope is a consecrated man and has a much different primary role to me.
good question, what is the role of the pope and how does it different to a woman .

And yes, as our leader, the head of our church, it is our duty to support our pope and defend our pope. we are one body. ONE body. If one of us fail, we all fail.

the body of the church is only as good as its weakest member. It is our duty to lift everyone as high as possible and support them through their journey.

We do not worship a pope, none suggested that, So please don’t throw in straw men or side track arguments with dramatic non existent statements.
 
It is not a strawman: No one denies there is a role to support the pope. If you claim it is your primary role, you are the only one implying idolatry, not those who dispute that this can EVER be in any way the primary role of a Christian.

The idea that being a woman gives you a different primary role than the Pope who is first and foremost a Christian just like anyone else is also mind boggling. I wonder why you think Baptism comes long before any other sacraments in your life. Sometimes reading this forum leaves one wondering if people have simply forgotten basic fundamentals? Such an age of confusion we are immersed in that we can have a debate that our primary role is to Christ above any other.
 
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oh please, We are to support the body of the church.

you are to support and build up and sustain the body of the church… That includes everyone. and yes, my role as a woman is very different to Holy Father Pope Francis role as the leader of the Catholic church on earth.

we are all the priest hood of believers. we are all baptised into the priest hood of believers,

However my primary role is very different to that of the Pope and God made it that way.

Christ is the head of the church on earth. So therefore our primary role is to support, uplift and sustain that church as the body of the church.
 
Now this is the strawman per excellence. Your role " as a woman" is not relevant. It is your PRIMARY role that is in question. If you think it’s to support the pope then you just need to go back to Catechism class and maybe reread your baptismal vows.
 
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oh please, my role as a woman is entirely relevant in the body of the church. How can it not be.

Are you saying God created our genders as irrelevant? Are you saying well God created the Pope irrelevantly as a male.

Or would you say God created a man who would and did one day become Pope. And God created a woman who would and did one day do what women do.

You are dramatising this argument, and putting blinkers on .
 
Rubee said:
If you think it’s to support the pope then you just need to go back to Catechism class and maybe reread your baptismal vows.
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I know you just joined 4 hours ago, but you might want to review the meaning of your sacraments, especially in light of the priesthood of believers and a member of the communion of saints and body of the church.
 
What does my joining 4 hours ago have to do with reviewing the meaning of sacraments? Do you perhaps confuse this forum with Catholicism? Your statement is rather strange.
 
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Also, there’s nothing in the sacrament of holy orders (of which the papacy is not a part!) that changes the PRIMARY role of a CHRISTIAN. As long as y’all drop that word “primary”, there’ll be no problem. No one denies that we have certain duties to the Holy Father.
 
“Rubee said:
What does my joining 4 hours ago have to do with reviewing the meaning of sacraments? Do you perhaps confuse this forum with Catholicism? Your statement is rather strange.
Rubee said:
Do you perhaps confuse this forum with Catholicism?
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did you realise you have joined a forum called Catholic Answers. it is run by a Catholic Apostolate. So yes it is all about Catholicism.

this is what you have joined, its forum
https://www.catholic.com/
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Yeah, I am having a real problem with one of the Pope’s top officers throwing the leader under the bus for stuff that appears to have involved two past Popes plus the top officer himself much more than it involved this Pope.

A good officer supports his leader. He doesn’t go start a mutiny that’s likely to only harm the Church. The tactics against Pope Francis just look sleazy to me.

If I were the Pope I would do exactly what this Pope is doing. Keep quiet and go about my business and pray a lot. Such an approach drives the critics crazy in the same way that a kid who ignores a bully’s comments drives the bully crazy because he’s not getting a reaction.
 
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That’s a strawman. I know it’s catholic, hence my participation here. It is not however Catholicism. So your reference to my joining and ‘reviewing the sacrament of the priesthood’ is bizarre.
 
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