Quote:
Originally Posted by DwnWthVwls
When did this argument turn into what makes a good or bad catholic? Who cares?
Are they catholic or not?
If yes, are the majority of them supporting rape and pedophilia? The answer is no.
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It's very important because the reason why it is important is because Catholics ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DISAGREE WITH THE POPE. If we look at the issue in a modern, secular lens where most religious followers just kind of cherry pick what they do and do not support then Catholics are just like every other mainstream religion. Except all those other mainstream religions do not have centralized, authoritarian regimes that govern how their infrastructures (i.e. priests, bishops, and cardinals) operate. My point about "bad Catholics" is just to drive home just how authoritarian Catholicism is and the power of the Pope within the religion.
Most Catholics probably do not think about this but it doesn't at all change the fact that if the Pope doesn't like what a priest is doing then the Pope can defrock or excommunicate that priest, thereby removing him from his position with a wave of his hand, potentially for any reason, even simply because the Pope doesn't like the soccer team the priest supports. The story goes that the Pope was supposedly kept ignorant of the pedophilia by the bishops and cardinals so that he wouldn't be liable for any of it but he's been forced to be aware of it for years now and the Catholic Church has not made any significant changes to how it operates which is now on the Pope.
So if a modern Catholic continues to support the Church then they are supporting, tacitly or otherwise, anything the Church does that the Pope knows about.