Hi, sorry, I mean you no harm but just thought I’d let you know that we Christians do not recognize any “Catholic teachings” whatsoever. Christ and the Apostles are the FINAL AUTHORITY and all of us must submit to their teachings. Case in poiint …
Concerning Prayers for the dead and Purgatory:
Our prayers cannot “help” the dead. Jesus said in Luke 16 that once we die, we will NEVER be able to get out of where we are sent, and there is no purgatory in between.
Purgatory is not a place in between, in terms of it being a final holding place. All those who die in Christ, but are not yet perfected, go to purgatory. All those who go to purgatory go to heaven.
For a scriptural understanding of purgatory…
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0010sbs.asp
scripturecatholic.com/purgatory.html
Even some famous Protestants believe in some kind of purgatory.
catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711word.asp
Further, prayer TO dead people, as though they are gods, is called Idolatry. No dead person has ever earned the right to hear prayer or answer prayer. Christ alone earned this right on the Cross.

If you’ve been told that Catholics believe our brother and sisters in heaven are gods, you’ve been either lied to or told a falsehood. I’m glad you now know.
1 Tim 2:5: For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus…
We agree
catholic.com/thisrock/2000/0005fea1.asp
John 14:14: Ask anything in My name and I will do it.
We agree

However, do you have a problem with asking one of your friends for prayer? We do not. This is our view with our siblings in heaven.
Notice that Jesus said ask in HIS name, not Miriam’s.
So what do you mean Jesus “refers to” the Maccabees?
Then, you said … “Did the Bible provide its own canonical authority?”
Actually, yes it did. Take a look …
Galatians 1:5-6: " … but there are some who pervert the gospel of Christ. Even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we preached to you, let him be accursed, and again, let him be accursed."
Using this logic, then God chose “accursed” individuals, who preached a “false gospel” to confirm which books belonged in the Bible at the Council of Nicaea in 325AD. Is this how God operates?
So it’s a dangerous thing to make up stuff as we go along. False doctrines such as Purgatory / indulgences / praying to dead statues / Limbus Infantium / Flaggelation … are found nowhere in the instructions of Christ and the Apostles.
We will wrestle with this when I have more time.
Then you said … "A problem for protestants theologians admitted by Karl Barth! Protestants [is that] the Canon of Scripture itself is not established beyond doubt.
Excuse me? If Karl Barth did not recognize Christ and the Apostles as the final authority, then it probably did not go well with him at his death because Jesus said … “Every knee will bow and confess I am Lord”. He also said …“If you confess Me before men, I will also confess you before My Father.”
Hmm… we agree with these verses too. Perhaps we have more in common than I thought.
I welcome your reply and please have a good day. sk.