I respect you as a sister in Christ, but the Catholics worship the Pope and Mary.
Heya anon!
1. What is the Pope?
The Pope is:
> The Bishop of Rome and a 'Spiritual Leader' of the Catholic Church.
That being said, what exactly is a 'Spiritual Leader?'
Well, a 'Spiritual Leader' is someone who is responsible for...
> Teaching the word of God, someone who provides religious and pastoral type guidance, they must set a holy and faithful example, this person must guard the Holy Scriptures and Doctrine from alteration, they must equip believers to perform ministry, and more. These are a few duties of a 'Spiritual Leader.'
> In short, the Pope is thee Pastor. The Pope leads the Catholic Church.
More below. This is a long text post!
... wait, Catholics have Pastors? Yep! Actually, every Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, etc is a Pastor, but NOT every Pastor is a Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, etc.
This man is the leader of not only the Church, but the Vatican. He oversees the Roman Curia (aka, the main 'governing' body of the Church itself), appoints Bishops and Cardinals, makes the final decision on the governance of the faith, promotes peace (unity, justice, faith, human rights, etc) makes homilies and performs liturgies, goes on pastoral journeys, can hold councils, and more. So yeah! He has a lot of responsibilities and does quite a bit.
2. Who was the first Pope?
... also, why does it even matter exactly...?
Okay! First off, the First Pope of the Catholic Church was an Apostle of Jesus, called Simon, or more famously: Cephas, or as we call him: Peter, meaning 'rock' or 'stone.'
Why does this matter?
Well, get ready to open up your Bible; we are going to Mathew 16:18! Yippee, field trip!
... okay, but back to being serious!
Mathew 16:18 goes like this:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Jesus first made Simon into a fisher of men, then later, the 'rock' on which he decided to start his Church.
... okay, so we basically have established that...
> Peter is the first Pope, Jesus literally stated that this man would be the rock he'd build his Church upon. Yeah? Yeah.
Every Pope there-then after, is considered a 'successor' of the Apostle Peter, through something called, 'Apostolic Succession.'
The Pope acts from something called, 'Ex Cathedra,' or, the 'Chair of Peter.'
He is the rock that God gave us to lead the Church.
"Hmm, yeah okay. But the Church is crazy! You guys literally worship idols, Mary, the Saints, the POPE-"
Stop right there dearest non binary sibling in Christ (non binary because you decided to come to me via Anon :]
First off, Catholics do NOT WORSHIP the Pope. We do NOT view the Pope as God or above God? The Pope is simply a 'Spiritual Leader' who we, the faithful, look to for guidance and direction.
The Pope is our Pastor.
So yeah. No we do not worship him. He is literally just a human, he is not divine. The Pope is not Jesus, but the Pope is Jesus approved.
Did Jesus say to Luther, Calvin, etc, "I'll build a new and better church using you" or did he not say, 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Do you worship your Pastor? No. And praise the Lord, I very, very much hope that you at least have a Pastor...
In the faith, it is important to have spiritual leaders to guide us. That is why even PROTESTANT denominations still appoint their own Pastor, or spiritual type leader. That is why we look towards our grannies or people we view as 'wise' for their powerful prayers and advice.
We are always looking for guidance.
Still doubtful? Let's examine what worship is.
Worship has always been to offer sacrifice, in the old and new testament alike. True worship is offering up sacrifice to God in order to honor Him; sacrifice is something due only to God Himself, and no other.
Many protestant churches follow the lead of what Jews did in their own temples; they pray and they preach- they pray in public and preach on street corners. While nothing is wrong with this, that is what a lot of the hypocrites do in the Bible.
Protestants view prayer as a form of 'worship.' Catholics however, do NOT. Catholics view prayer as a form of ultimate communication with God.
Preaching on the other hand is also not worship; it is teaching. Which is good! It just is seriously not worship.
Fasting can be a form of prayer and worship, because it is a type of communication with God that offers up a form of sacrifice to Him.
What's the difference between the Catholic mass and the protestant mass then? Catholic mass is literally centered on sacrifice, in the True Presence of Jesus in The Eucharist.
Protestants and seculars laugh at our days in lent; fasting from meat of Fridays, etc. but the protestant 'mass' is all about preaching and feeling good- it's about community and prayer.
These are beautiful things, but the protestant mass does not allot for sacrifice to God whatsoever; it isn't for Him, instead, it's ultimately for you and your comfort.
We don't go to mass for us. We go for God and His True Presence.
3. What about Mary?
Yes! What about Mary?
Mary is the Mother of God; she is also our spiritual mother, and someone to imitate in our faith journey. She said yes to God, and believed Him with all her heart, when countless others consistently doubted Him.
Abraham's wife, Elizabeth's husband? When angels appeared to them, they were doubtful in their hearts. But not Mary, because God made her for this role.
Catholics do not worship Mary; that is to say, we do NOT offer sacrifice to either her, nor the Pope. Prayers directed at Mary are purely asking for her intercession, or 'asking her to pray to God on our behalf.'
That is to say, even though we offer up this prayer 'to Mary' it is ultimately a prayer meant for God Himself.
It's like asking your friend to pray for you. It's like asking a dead relative to pray for you (I know protestants who have done this, I know non religious people who have done this)
When you ask someone to pray for you, are you worshiping them? No.
Still doubtful? Thinking, "well, where in the Bible does it say-"
Have you ever heard of the study of Bibical Typology?
Well, we are about to get into it!! Yippeee!!!
In this section, I will be referencing the book, 'Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary' quite a bit. Your sister is quite fond of spiritual and theological texts, you see!
So what is Typology? Well, typology is, 'the study of Old Testament Prefigurations.'
Basically? By looking at the Bible with a reductionist viewpoint, as most Protestants and even most Catholics do (aka: ignoring foreshadowings of the Old Testament and only considering what is written the New Testament about Jesus and Mary), we are left with only a fraction of what the Bible actually teaches us on both Jesus and Mary alike.
If one interprets the New Testament in light of the Old Testament, it is easily distinguished that what the Catholic Church teaches about Mary is not only Bibical, but deeply rooted in scripture. When one only looks to the New Testament for answers, you only find a partial of the truth. Truly, the Churches' teachings on Mary did not come from a 'paganist' viewpoint; it came from a Jewish viewpoint. You may find that the better you understand Mary, the better you will understand Jesus Himself. (12-13)
Genesis 3:15 was seen by the Jewish people as a 'Messianic Prophecy.'
This is important.
Context: "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Before Jesus (and for some even after), Jews saw this text as a prophecy telling of a coming Messiah. In scripture, Adam and Eve fell together.
The book of John parallels Genesis; Jesus is being portrayed as being the new Adam. Basically? Adam caused the fall right? So there must be a new Adam, one who sets things right.
"It wasn't Adam alone, you just said-"
Yes! I know! If there's a new Adam, there must also be a new Eve.
Eve wasn't considered an ordinary woman. She played a very crucial role, and her offspring, the Messiah, was predicted to undo the effects of our fallen world. That being said, who is the new Eve? (24)
The answer? Mary. In the Gospel of John and Revalations alike, Mary was depicted in such ways that echoed Eve in Genesis. The Wedding at Cana John 2:3 (along with the woman of Genesis 3:15), and The Book of Revelations (Revelation 12) depicting the Woman, Serpent, and Messiah > all essential verses supporting this claim. (25) Basically, Mary is the woman of Genesis whose offspring will conquer the serpent.
Jesus is the Messiah.
Jesus is Mary's offspring.
The offspring of the 'woman' stated in the prophecy.
The parallels go like this:
Eve is called woman eleven times, Mary is called woman twice. Eve invites Adam to commit the first sin, while Mary invites Jesus to perform his first public sign. Eve was with Adam at the fall when she was tempted by the devil to sin, while Mary was with Jesus at his crucifixion when Jesus conquered all sin and the devil himself. Eve is the mother of the offspring who conquers the Serpent, while Mary is the woman whose offspring (Jesus) conquers the devil. All of this leads to the conclusion that if Jesus is the next Adam, then his mother is the next Eve.
No one else fits the role except for his very own mother; this of course, cements the idea that Mary is not simply an 'ordinary' woman, and that 'anyone' could have done what she did. God made her specifically for this new role. (29)
Modern Christians so readily call Mary an ordinary woman, however, this doesn't apply to ancient Christians. These parallels were widely recognized. If Eve played a big role in the fall of mankind, it only makes sense that Mary, the new Eve, play a large roll in humanities redemption. (34)
Mary, like Eve, was created without sin. A logical approach to this concept is this: if Mary is the new Eve, she must be greater than Eve.
Old Testament Prefigurations are never greater than their New Testament fulfillments.
For example: Adam may prefigure Jesus, but he was not greater than Jesus. David also foreshadows Jesus, but was not greater than Jesus either.
So if Eve prefigures Mary, she cannot be greater than Mary.
Mary is the only exception to the bibical teaching that all humans after the fall are born under the power of sin. Clearly this is not due to her efforts, but is a pure gift of God's grace.
The New Testament clearly states Jesus is without sin, but how can we add Mary to this list
... wouldn't it somehow mean that Mary was somehow less than human and somehow divine?
No, unless Adam and Eve before the fall are also somehow less than fully human.
Looking at this from a Jewish perspective, we must remember that Adam and Eve were created 'very good' and without sin.
Therefore it makes sense that he would create the new Adam and Eve without sin. (37)
Simply: if Adam and Eve were created without sin, why is it so strange that both Jesus and Mary would be created without sin also?
The Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with 'sinlessness' of her parents, nor doesn't have anything to do with Mary being cleansed from sin so she wouldn't pass on her 'sinful nature,' rather, it flows from God's special grace that flows directly from Jesus's victory over sin. (39)
I could go on to talk about the typology involving the 'New Ark of the Covenant' but I'll leave it at this.
Catholics simply honor Mary (+ the saints) and ask for her intercession. The Pope is our Pastor, he is not God.
We don't offer sacrifice to any of these, except God.
I do not mean to be spiteful, and I say this in the most loving way possible:
Please, in the future: if you are going to say something like that in my inbox from a perspective of respect then please research and present something that supports your claim, don't just say something for no reason.
If you really respect me as a sister in Christ, then you would not come in a disguise to me, your neighbor, to say such a thing.
Ahem, anyway.
Sorry for all the weird highlighting by the way, I have a really hard time with walls of text at times, so I figured it'd help highlight and keep on track.
Additional Sources:
Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary (book)
As Catholics, we believe that the honor we show to Mary isn't the same as worship. But that raises the question: what would worshipping her
Karlo Broussard, Catholic Answers apologist, addresses the misconception that consecrating oneself to Mary is a form of idolatry. He clarifi
The bishop of Rome, successor of St. Peter, chief of the whole Church, and the Vicar of Christ on earth
Please also reference this for a more in depth run through of the Catholic faith:
Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church onlineOnline VersionFAQs about the CatechismIn reading the Catechism of the Catholic Churchwe can.
Undoubtedly, there are a billion misconceptions floating about regarding the Church; I've gotten asks that tell me that 'you aren't Christian, you're Catholic. There's a difference.'
Most people don't care enough one way or another to correct these misconceptions, but the Catholic Church is 2000 years old, started by Apostle Peter, and we even created the Biblical canon. We are Christian.
Am I saying Protestants aren't Christian? No. I am merely stating that they do not have all the answers, and maybe, just maybe: not all of their choices in teaching have been the right ones.
Does the Catholic Church have all the answers? No. But we are: a one good and holy Apostolic Church.
I hope this is helpful in furthering someones perspective on why we Catholics believe what we do.
May the peace of the Lord be with You.