Justaccord and ScottH
I am a long time reader, rarely post Calvinist who started reading Catholic Theology after listening to anti-Catholic rhetoric at my church each Sunday… some of things the Pstr said were so outlandish that I had to go and read up just to see if what he was saying was true… I was raised RCC but didn’t really know my faith very well, but well enough to know I was never Mary was equal to Jesus in any way shape or form… anyway.
The problem you are having here is you are hearing what is being said through Protestant ears. You have been trained to come to this with a preconceived idea of what they are saying and are LOOKING for anything that sounds that as though it will support your veiw rather then trying to move out of that box and HEAR WHAT THEY ARE SAYING.

I had a hard time in the beginning, but it gets easier. It’s like learning a new language.
As for what John Paul II said, here is my take with out looking it up-Mary was His mother, she nursed Him, cared for Him , protected Him, realized He was God… how hard it must have been for her to watch them toture and kill Him having known Him so intimately. If I had been His mother, i would NOT have CO-opperated, I would have tried to kill those who took Him. I would have cried buckett snd railed against the world as He hung dying. But she instead, bore HER CROSS of being totally submissive and restrained herself from raising a hand to stop this. If that is not being CO-operative and being ‘cruixified’ spiritutally, I don’t what would be.
We are all asked to take up our crosses… you just don’t get the metaphors and language of the Bible.
They are being very kind and have gone out of their way to explain things, but you basically keel telling them they are lying about what they believe. I would have gotten condecending many posts ago…
If they honestly believed she was equal, won’t they be HAPPY to admit that??? Not admiting it would be disgracing to Mary and if they placed her as high as the Lord, why on earth would they do that???
Honestly, it’s your attitudes that have made me look very seriously at the RCC. You guys just don’t seem able to think clearly when it comes to Catholic Doctrine and are simply shadow boxing, not really engaging in any real meaningfull discusion about the differences in doctrine.
This is not said in anger at all. Accept it in peace and please take another look at how open your mind really is to learning and understanding what they are saying.