I think there are a lot of people who would be willing to go up against the Pope.
I was born and raised evangelical Protestant, and one of the traits that I had and still have is arrogance. Back then, I thought it was confidence and faith in the Lord, but now I recognize it for what it really is–arrogance in my own knowledge about God and the Bible.
I honestly thought I had a lock on eternal truth. After all, that’s what we were told over and over again–we have the words of eternal life.
Although I don’t mean to be disrespectful of evangelical Protestant Christians, I believe there are a lot of evangelical Protestants, especially teenagers and young people, who truly think that their knowledge of the Bible is all that is needed, and they would willingly and happily stand up against the Pope, or any Pope in history, or any saint who has ever lived.
BTW, one of the first things that an evangelical Protestant would say to the Pope or to any Catholic is that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship with a Person, Jesus Christ.”
Another thing–a lot of Protestants know Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and would be happy to pit their knowledge of Biblical languages against the Pope’s. They would also be happy to use their knowledge of textual criticism and other interpretative devices to prove that their Scriptural interpretations are right and the Popes are wrong. Never underestimate the scholarship of Protestants.
One person who comes to mind is R.C. Sproule. This man is incredibly intelligent and could probably hold his own against the Pope for many hours. I would actually like to see this debate! OTOH, Sproule is not arrogant, IMO. I believe he would demonstrate a respectful attitude and humbly decline the opportunity to debate Pope Benedict XVI.