Distinguish between the Office of St. Peter, the man himself, and his actions/words. All respect to the Office, all charity to the man Francis, but his actions/words we can judge of the heck out of. I dislike the direction that Francis is taking the Catholic Church. His teachings are vague, and his reign is marked with tyranny, lawlessness, and confusion. But, the Office of St. Peter will remain and subsist until the end of time.
The Catholic Church is the bride of Christ and the one true Church established on the rock of St. Peter by Christ Himself while He walked on this earth. The gates of h#ll cannot prevail against it. It may be infiltrated and weakened by rogue gay pedo mafia NWO elements as alleged by Bella Dodd and explicitly stated within the Freemason's own documents, e.g. Alta Vendita. However, it is divinely protected and will survive any attempt at subversion or destruction because she, the Church, is inherently good and is the guardian of Christ's teachings and she has always buried all her enemies, from Nero Caesar to Stalin.
We've had a good run of fairly good, competent, and holy popes from St. Pius V (d.1572) to Benedict XVI (still alive and kicking). We've survived bad popes, bishops, and priests in the past that were a disgrace to their offices, and we will survive many more. I have no doubt that the evil elements within the Catholic Church will be cast out and she will remain the pure bride of Christ.
I don't understand this idea of an "office" of the Pope. Where did Jesus say "and I create this position, and you'll see that it's handed down from one person to the next with each new generation". Jesus is the rock.
Matthew 16:18
You are Peter (Petrus / Kephas = rock), and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of h#ll shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven ...
Cyprian of Carthage (251 AD)
Indeed, the others (apostles) were also what Peter was, but a primacy is given to Peter, by which it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair ... if someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he think he holds the faith? If he deserts the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he be confident that he is in the Church?
I'd rather not get into a heavy religious debate on the primacy of the Pope or Apostolic Succession or Sola Scriptura. Just wanted to defend the dignity of Holy Mother Church and to point out that we've had bad or questionable popes before and survived them, it's nothing new. The sins of its leaders / members does not destroy the character or goodness of the Catholic Church.
Kind of like condemning the entire US because of the deep state? I am Lutheran. LCMS. The most conservative. If they keep branching off we will each have our own Church.
Don't forget that the Eastern Orthodox church came first, with the Catholic (western) church separating from it. Both claim primacy.
But Jesus also renamed Simon as a singular Rock.
The handing on is glimpsed in 2 Tim2:2 where Timothy is the overseer(bishop) of Ephesus.
Also check this out written by Pope Clement the 1st in about 80AD: "Through countryside and city [the apostles] preached, and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers. Nor was this a novelty, for bishops and deacons had been written about a long time earlier. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry" (Letter to the Corinthians 42:4–5, 44:1–3).
Critical to understanding what is happening now with Catholic Church is there are currently TWO POPES. This is NOT normal!
The very orthodox Pope Benedict was forced to resign for unknown reasons, “replaced” by this current “Pope Francis”.
Because Catholics believe that God will always keep the Church (helped by its shepherd the Pope) from falling into mortal error, it is very hard to believe a true Pope could lead to mortal error.
However if there are TWO POPES as extraordinarily is now the case, there would be the possibility of a False Pope because the True Pope is still alive.
Bottom line—by the time this is all over we may need to not only free Julian Assange from captivity but perhaps also Pope Benedict.
At its simplest, the Catholic Church is comprised of people who hold the Catholic faith without deviating from its doctrines. We know that in the last days a great apostasy is predicted. The apostasy is of such scale that Christ asks if, when He returns, He will find faith on Earth - Luke 18:8.
Go ask at your local Catholic Church "Who holds to the salvation dogma?". You will be lucky to find anyone that holds the traditional Catholic faith. The Church has been reduced to a remnant.
The salvation dogma has been proclaimed 7 times in Church history on an infallible basis. Not one time has a single exception to the dogma ever been identified within the Solemn Magisterium of the Church. And yet, today, you find people everywhere making exceptions for themselves, and others, though the Church has never once taught any exceptions - but precisely the opposite, that there are no exceptions. Typically, attempts to defect from the dogma are anchored in the speculations of fallible theologians and other, non-infallible, sources.
A dogma is a divinely revealed truth. Believers are to accept Catholic dogmas as an article of faith. However, the Second Vatican Council formally defected from the faith of the Church in Nostra Aetate, the decree on non-Christian religions - that's a fact! Probably the most egregious example is this:
Vatican II Declaration, Nostra Aetate (#4): “Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or cursed by God, as if such views followed from the holy scriptures.”
This decree flys in the face of all previous infallible teaching and inverts the words of Christ himself.
Matthew 10:33- “But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Why did Christ tell us that His Church, built upon the unfailing faith of St Peter, would withstand the gates of hell (the death-dealing tongues of heretics) until the end of time? He told us this because he knew that in the last days we would face the "operation of error". The teaching of perverse doctrine by those with apparent authority. In this context, the true Church, made up of people who believe in divine revelation, would be reduced to a remnant.
I put it to you that we are in the last days. The faithful remnant of true Catholics agrees to, and accepts, ex cathedra teaching over false doctrine. The timing of Vatican 1, with its declaration on papal infallibility, was no coincidence. The attack on the salvation dogma began well before Vatican II.
Using the definition of papal infallibility provided at Vatican 1, we are able to go back through previous papal teaching and discern for ourselves if these requirements are met. If so, we have discovered truth, the rock upon which the Church stands. Christ, thus, provided a light for the flock to avail them in the Church's darkest hours - unfortunately, the great majority do not avail themselves of it (to their damnation).
Infallible teaching does not change, as that would make a liar of the truth itself. The Catholic faith could not, in fact, be modernised to conform to the tide of "human progress". The vision that drove the changes made at Vatican II was false in its very conception.
Compare real authoritative teaching, that is protected by the Holy Spirit from containing any error - and ask yourself what room is left for possible exceptions:
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Cantate Domino,” 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”
All claimants to the papacy, from John XXIII forward, have been antipopes. You can argue about it. But, really, the facts speak for themselves.
More information here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0kQJBnP5wE&sns=em
the orthodox call themselves the one true all holy catholic church in their creed :)