This is what Catholics believe--Thus, the concept of the confessional and the Priest being able to forgive sins. Railing against the Pope is not one of my interest, merely the mystery of the pomp and ceremony of his visit to the States. First of us, for a religious leader to be accorded such lavishness is beyond me; any leader for that matter but the Pope. Please!
It is not a matter of disrespect and I am giving the benefit of doubt whether it sounds like it or not. He is, I guess, the head of state, the Vatican. Someone said that George W. met the first ever dignitary on the tarmac: the Pope. Let's face it: with the lowest rating of any President in History, anything or body in a storm.
I am not anti Catholic but I'm a Protestant and a Bible thumber. I believe that Protestants and their adherence to the Scriptures is very important. And, one cannot read the Bible and not know that much of all of this about the Pope is simply not Scriptural. Protestants do not believe that a Pope is anything other than a man. In fact, the absolute cornerstone of Protestant belief is the Priesthood of the Individual Believer, meaning every man is his own Priest.
The bowing and scraping to a religious figure is beyond the pale of what Jesus would do. Jesus constantly eschewed pomp and ceremony. This is what He said, "Beware of these experts in religion, for they love to parade in dignified robes and to be bowed to by the people as they walk along the street. And, they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and at religious festivals. But even while they are praying long prayers with great outward piety, they are planning schemes to cheat widows out of their property. Therefore God's heaviest sentence awaits these men." Luke 20: 46-47
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