What exactly is The Pope anyway??

What is The Pope?? The king of the Catholic Church? I was brought up to believe God was the leader of the church (or my faith anyway). Who is this Pope character? He's like the Godfather of the Catholic Church. They should call him Don John Paul II. Who assassinated John Paul I anyway and why?? Why?? Because he had his own ideas....like ALLOWING PRIESTS TO MARRY!!

Someone explain to me what the purpose of The Pope is. He's like the Queen Margaret of the Catholic Church. Just some lame figurehead that doesn't mean a damn thing. Just pretends to be in charge while others are pulling his strings.....He's about to croak and be replaced by some equally lame new Pope.....or Godfather or Don or whatever you want to call him.

The Pope is a nincompope!!!

Isn't he the Vicar of Christ?

The head of the holy kingdom of god on earth? I hate capitalizing....it's so time consuming...a fffffffffffffffff

Isn't he the Vicar of Christ?

The head of the holy kingdom of god on earth?

Who decided to have a "head of the holy kingdom on Earth?".....it's nowhere in the Bible.....God is Lord and Jesus is supposed to be the son of God.....so again I ask...who is The Pope? Why doesn't the Bible call for a Pope??....and since it doesn't why is there such a character?

Isn't God the head of the holy kingdon of Earth and all the universe??

What is The Pope? Who created this job?

The pope is supposed to be the Vicar Of Christ .. yes....

The only problem with that.. is (I can't remember details) ..

is that.. the story of how it all got started is a lie.. the person who was supposed to be the first pope... and the way it happened was fabricated because the person who was supposed to be in rome ... wasn't actually there durning the time peroid they gave...

What I'm trying to say is ... Some people seen an opportunity to create something off of something else... adopted ideals.. and said no no this is the way .... they in turn took EVERYTHING important Jesus said and hid it... or put their twist on it..

Jesus actually came to destroy religeon... TRUTH!
Jesus went against EVERYTHING they stood for.. (even if he never existed) the story still stands... he attempted to destroy it... but he didn't attempt to destroy it the conventional way with hate or anger... he did it with love instead... a lot of people are getting wise to his REAL teachings... the sooner the better..

Originally posted by Zabilgy
What is The Pope?? The king of the Catholic Church?

The pope started out as the metropolitan bishop of rome. He was on 'equal footing' with other big metropolitan bishops, like in Antioch, Alexandria, and the like. However, the bible states that 'peter is the rock on which the church is supported', so the Roman Metropolitan started saying that his see was pe-eminent over the other ones. The basic idea has been that, god will not allow the church (the body of beleivers, the christian community) to pick up false beleifs and be lead astray by false prophets and the like. From this comes the 'papal infalibility' idea. The pope prays and considers the dogmatic issues, and god answers his prayers. As for why a heirarchy in the first place, well, the early pre-schismatic christian community developed that, with terms that 'mimiced' temporal administrations, such that they were broken up into cities, with deacons, preists, bishops, etc etc.

They should call him Don John Paul II.

Gosh, how funny, italians, mobsters, haw haw.

Also, the term 'pope' has nothing to do with the religion specifically. Its 'latin' for 'father', the 'poppa' is the father-figure in the city of rome and was called that by the city goers. The term stuck.

Jesus actually came to destroy religeon... TRUTH!

I like this and believe it. Religion is where all the bs begins. Where self appointed "leaders" come along and tell the masses what to think and what to do. What is wrong and right...etc....and telling us what the Bible says. I have faith. I have my own beliefs and do not believe in religion. I believe Jesus felt the same way....

Then talk about putting a twist on it...the "Christians" decide to make Jesus the leader of the Christian church.....which he would never have wanted. I actually believe he was a mortal prophet and he was used by the "church" to give them someone to base their bogus religions on....

The Jews vs. The Christians....
The catholics vs. The Protestants....etc.....

How sad and how horrible Jesus would find this all to be. God bless us all.....

Originally posted by Zabilgy

Jesus actually came to destroy religeon... TRUTH!

I like this and believe it. Religion is where all the bs begins. Where self appointed "leaders" come along and tell the masses what to think and what to do. What is wrong and right...etc....and telling us what the Bible says. I have faith. I have my own beliefs and do not believe in religion. I believe Jesus felt the same way....

Then talk about putting a twist on it...the "Christians" decide to make Jesus the leader of the Christian church.....which he would never have wanted. I actually believe he was a mortal prophet and he was used by the "church" to give them someone to base their bogus religions on....

The Jews vs. The Christians....
The catholics vs. The Protestants....etc.....

How sad and how horrible Jesus would find this all to be. God bless us all.....

Those who have, will be given more....

Keep looking ..

Yes Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and from him the Pope draws his authority as Peter was given the keys to the kingdom and he ability to make binding agreements on earth that would be honored in Heaven. There was quite a bit of power playing that occured but the Pope really tried to solidify his power around the time of the Crusades when Innocent II sent most of the nobles off to die in a quest to take the Holy Lands with the revelation that Christ had been misquoted and it was only a sin to kill Christians. This was an attempt to take over the Holy Lands and add to the Popes power as well as killing off a lot of nobles and therefor limiting the competition. Then you had Innocent III that started using the interdict (denying the rights of people in a country to receive sacraments such as baptism, marriage, communion, confession, last rights, etc.) to get monarchs to follow his will. Finally, or maybe before Innocent III I can't remember, you had the concept floated out there that the Church was the supreme law of the land and the Pope was at the head, making all monarchs subordinate to him.

You also really had some popes that were puppets to monarchs especially during the Babalonian Captivity and the line of Avignon popes. Then of course you had the Great Schism when there was a Pope in Rome and a Pope in Avignon each declaring the other to be the anti-christ. Finally this was resolved at the Council of Constance, a new pope was elected, and they burned John Huss at the stake for entertainment. From then on the Pope was the head of the Church as well as the bishop of Rome. So thats who the pope is in a nutshell, the bishop of Rome and the decendant in title of St. Peter.

In the Bible where Jesus says He would build His church on the rock, He wasn't talking about Peter himself, He was talking about the statement Peter just made. The statement that "Jesus is the Christ." That is the foundation of Christianity that Jesus is the Savior of mankind. The office of pope is not Biblical an is a tool that mankind's enemy has used to deceive to lead astray.

Originally posted by Zabilgy
What is The Pope?? The king of the Catholic Church? I was brought up to believe God was the leader of the church (or my faith anyway). Who is this Pope character? He's like the Godfather of the Catholic Church. They should call him Don John Paul II. Who assassinated John Paul I anyway and why?? Why?? Because he had his own ideas....like ALLOWING PRIESTS TO MARRY!!

Someone explain to me what the purpose of The Pope is. He's like the Queen Margaret of the Catholic Church. Just some lame figurehead that doesn't mean a damn thing. Just pretends to be in charge while others are pulling his strings.....He's about to croak and be replaced by some equally lame new Pope.....or Godfather or Don or whatever you want to call him.

The Pope is a nincompope!!!

The simplest way to put this is that he is the physical "spokes-person", if you will. IF you want to get into more complicated reasons why the Roman Catholic Church keeps him there well here they are :

1. The Primacy of Peter
2. To prevent the splitting of the church (as what happened to the protestants near 1500)

.......

those are all the ones I can think up off the top of my head.

Umm.. As to answer your other question, NO, he is not getting strings pulled by anyone. And dont people get assassinated every once in a while? John Paul I got assassinated for what he believed in. It may ahve been wrong, but is he not a man? Cant he think for himself and what he THINKS is best?

And what gives you the right to mock someone else's religion. Buddy, you better hope I never see you. But I will put that asside. For now.

AS to you calling the pope lame and asking why he is there, this all realates back to the primacy of Peter. The primacy of peter is saying that peter and his predesors are the popes, as in the primacy was passed on. Yes there have been some pretty crappy popes, but none the less, they still ahd the primacy from when Jesus told Peter, "you are the Rock". He is the rock and foundation of the church. If the foundation of a building is gone, the building tumbles, so therefore, the primacy was passed down.

Originally posted by dbrandt
In the Bible where Jesus says He would build His church on the rock, He wasn't talking about Peter himself, He was talking about the statement Peter just made.

There is, unfortunately, not accompanying footnotes to clear that up.

One set of people thought that the peter arguement was a good one, and they listened to the pope over the other bishops. Another set of people didn't think it was a good arguement, and they stuck with their bishops. The former are now the Roman Catholics, the latter are now the Greek Orthodox.

Originally posted by Zabilgy
Someone explain to me what the purpose of The Pope is. He's like the Queen Margaret of the Catholic Church. Just some lame figurehead that doesn't mean a damn thing. Just pretends to be in charge while others are pulling his strings.....He's about to croak and be replaced by some equally lame new Pope.....or Godfather or Don or whatever you want to call him.

The Pope is a nincompope!!!

Good play on words. In a nutshell, his position evolved over time, just as governmental positions do.

First they were priests and laymen, then bishops to whom the priests reported followed by clergy; then bishops, monks, priests, clergy. With the church undergoing factional discord, they named one fellow the head bishop or pope. This led to several popes at once all in charge of their own diocese, east (Constantinople), west (Rome) and wherever else they thought one needed, with the two named sharing power over all. After much falling in and out of love with each other, they merged, and the clergy grew, so they needed arch-bishops to oversee the bishops, and eventually cardinals to oversee the arch-bishops, with a Pope who was accumulating more power as time went on such to the extent as noted earlier he is presumed to sit at the right hand of Jesus, nay God.

During the 8th century, the church was in a constant battle for power with the emperors, and having built their base of wealth, followers and a huge amount of instilled fear of the unknown, they hauled out a document which they claimed was signed by Constantine the Great granting the pope absolute power over everything, including the monarchy, and taxation extending to the royal holdings. The kingdom shifted hands.

We give him our crown, our mitre, our diadem and all our imperial vestments…We bestow to the Holy Pontiff the city of Rome and all of the western cities of Italy.

Eventually, they wielded so much power and wealth, their decrees of crusades etc. were edicts to the royalty to carry them out via military might or the whatever persecution was necessary to protect the righteous and divine Christian community.

Later, after some internal conflict, they declared the 2/3rd vote for the pope, elevating him to demi-god status, and since then, they have been working on tossing God himself out on his ear and replacing him with the pontiff.

Those who have, will be given more....

Keep looking ..

Dnero....what do you mean by this?? Thanks

And what gives you the right to mock someone else's religion. Buddy, you better hope I never see you. But I will put that asside. For now.

Ivanglam.....idle threats only make me laugh, make you look stupid and make me feel the mods should slap you.....but I'll put that aside for now.

What you call mocking, I call opinion. I think the whole concept of a Pope is ridiculous and against the teachings of the Bible and anyone who would follow him is ignorant. That's just my opinion Ivan.....you want to beat me up because of my opinions tough guy? U2U me with your address and I'll come knock on your door!!

AS to you calling the pope lame and asking why he is there, this all realates back to the primacy of Peter. The primacy of peter is saying that peter and his predesors are the popes, as in the primacy was passed on. Yes there have been some pretty crappy popes, but none the less, they still ahd the primacy from when Jesus told Peter, "you are the Rock". He is the rock and foundation of the church. If the foundation of a building is gone, the building tumbles, so therefore, the primacy was passed down.

More from my buddy Ivanglam. If this is true, and there have been Popes since Peter.....then this next statement of yours makes no sense:

2. To prevent the splitting of the church (as what happened to the protestants near 1500)

I guess the Popes didn't do a very good job if the Protestants split off around 1500....and what about all the other spin-offs?? Does the Catholic Church want to own every soul? Does the Catholic Church think it is the only correct religion? Is that why millions were slaughtered by the Catholic Church over the years....because they wanted to follow a different path? Sounds like the Pope and the Catholic Church ara a bunch of Nazis....

What is that commandment?.....oh yeah, "Thou shalt not kill"......I guess the Catholic Church only has 9 commandments?? That's why one can go to confession and say I'm sorry and be absolved.....That's why the Mafia loves the Catholic Church.....with it's Don John Paul II......

What do u think any leader is? A puppet on strings....

What do u think any leader is? A puppet on strings....

Exactly....like all of our Presidents since Kennedy and of course Pope JOhn Paul I who was also assassinated because he had his own ideas just like Kennedy. Be a puppet or get killed.

Originally posted by Zabilgy
I guess the Popes didn't do a very good job if the Protestants split off around 1500

And look what happened to them since then. THere is no universal Protestant Church, and lots of the big divisions happened in a very short time. The RCC has divisions within it certainly, but those have been over nearly 2kya. More so, the RCC incorporated into it many eastern churches that had 'lost contact' with the christian community over the vast stretches of time, such as the syro-malabar church. So while the protest-ants divivde and sub divide (the episcopalians have just suffered another schism no? over gay priests), the catholic church consolidates.

One of the de facto effects of the RCC centralized church has been the supression of heresy and keeping with dogma. This is 'bad' in the real world, but, indeed, in religion, its almost a requirement.

Does the Catholic Church think it is the only correct religion?

The RCC is part of the Ecumenical Movement that recognizes that people in other religions can attain salvation. It think that its the only one that has the message absoltely correct, while say the Greek Orthodox church has something almost correct, and the protestants have incorrect teachings, etc etc, but that they can all get into heaven.

Is that why millions were slaughtered by the Catholic Church over the years....because they wanted to follow a different path?

Millions were slaughtered over the years because of politics and power. Thousands were killed strictly over heresies. Not that it makes much of a difference, but most of the horrible killings of the church have been political ones, stuff that results from being a major political power.

How many people have died at the hands of the anglican church?

What is that commandment?.....oh yeah, "Thou shalt not kill"......I guess the Catholic Church only has 9 commandments??

Please. The Catholic church is obviously not infalliable. It can make mistakes, horrible ones. Name any group that was in power in those times that was't viscious and murderous?

Originally posted by Nygdan

Originally posted by dbrandt
In the Bible where Jesus says He would build His church on the rock, He wasn't talking about Peter himself, He was talking about the statement Peter just made.

There is, unfortunately, not accompanying footnotes to clear that up.

The foundation is Christ that is told in the Bible. Man can make mistakes and a couple of verses later Peter tells Christ that he(Peter) won't let Christ go and suffer and is rebuked by Jesus as a hindrance to why He(Jesus) really came. The rock has to be Christ and His mission. Chritianity is about each individually being able to know and talk to God by him or herself. When you add in the pope you are adding an additional person between you and God. The office of pope creates a distance between worshippers and God that is not to be there.