One thing I never understood about Catholicism is why Mary is treated like Jesus.
Maybe it seems that way, but it's factually incorrect.
To Catholics, there is adoration, hyperveneration, and veneration.
Adoration is reserved solely for God.
Mary is hypervenerated.
Saints are venerated.
Growing up with Catholics and Orthodox in my family, I lost track of how many protestant friends I explained this to.
It's always been bizarre to me that people think Catholics treat Mary like Jesus. It's incredibly different.
Also how Popes are chosen and why they would have a better connection to God than other humans
I'm not very knowledgeable about how Popes are chosen, so I'll let a devout Catholic answer that.
Just speaking for myself, I'd personally want to talk to a leader in a church if I had a spiritual problem because of their knowledge and experience; that's what I imagine is meant by being close to God.
Popes are chosen through a joint council of all the Cardinals in the Catholic Church. They elect the Pope, with the supposed help of the Holy Spirit (though I doubt Francis was chosen that way), to succeed as Bishop of Rome.
The Pope's one and only job is to defend the Catholic Faith, as established by Christ, not to create it or spearhead developments in doctrine but, just to defend what has already been established.
Jesus is fully God and fully man. Mary is not divine, but was destined from all time to be the woman through whom Jesus could enter the world and thus save us from our sins. This fundamental distinction should show you how we do not treat Mary on the same level as Jesus, but we revere and honor her because Jesus honored her. Reducing Mary to the level of just ordinary people is insulting to Christ. Also, the pope doesn’t have some special connection to God that other people lack. Jesus instituted the Church, the Catholic Church, upon Peter, the first pope. As a result, popes have rhe authority as passed down by Peter to guide the Church, and may speak infallibly through the Holy Spirit on certain matters of faith and morals. This isn’t even that far-fetched if you believe that the Bible is divinely inspired and consider the historical fact that it was canonized by the Catholic Church. That’s not to say everything the pope says is infallible, but the Holy Spirit remains with the Church as Christ promised.
It's not idolatry because we don't actually pray to the saints as you'd pray to God. You're asking the saint(s) to pray for you, much in the same way you'd ask a friend or members of your parish to pray for you.
It's hard to pray directly to God for intercession. Allowing Saints to handle your prayers is much easier and it's much closer to home since they are people too. We are all called to be like Christ but, we will never be like him. We all can be like the Saints, since they are just like us, men and women stuck in this valley of tears, called to be like Christ.
We don't treat Mary the same as Jesus though. The idea that Catholics seriously believe that Mary is on the same level as Jesus is Protestant canard.
He certainly publicly BTFOed her enough.
Maybe it seems that way, but it's factually incorrect. To Catholics, there is adoration, hyperveneration, and veneration.
Adoration is reserved solely for God. Mary is hypervenerated. Saints are venerated.
Growing up with Catholics and Orthodox in my family, I lost track of how many protestant friends I explained this to.
It's always been bizarre to me that people think Catholics treat Mary like Jesus. It's incredibly different.
I'm not very knowledgeable about how Popes are chosen, so I'll let a devout Catholic answer that.
Just speaking for myself, I'd personally want to talk to a leader in a church if I had a spiritual problem because of their knowledge and experience; that's what I imagine is meant by being close to God.
Edit: More about Jesus.
Popes are chosen through a joint council of all the Cardinals in the Catholic Church. They elect the Pope, with the supposed help of the Holy Spirit (though I doubt Francis was chosen that way), to succeed as Bishop of Rome.
The Pope's one and only job is to defend the Catholic Faith, as established by Christ, not to create it or spearhead developments in doctrine but, just to defend what has already been established.
We'll said! Thanks for your input.
Jesus is fully God and fully man. Mary is not divine, but was destined from all time to be the woman through whom Jesus could enter the world and thus save us from our sins. This fundamental distinction should show you how we do not treat Mary on the same level as Jesus, but we revere and honor her because Jesus honored her. Reducing Mary to the level of just ordinary people is insulting to Christ. Also, the pope doesn’t have some special connection to God that other people lack. Jesus instituted the Church, the Catholic Church, upon Peter, the first pope. As a result, popes have rhe authority as passed down by Peter to guide the Church, and may speak infallibly through the Holy Spirit on certain matters of faith and morals. This isn’t even that far-fetched if you believe that the Bible is divinely inspired and consider the historical fact that it was canonized by the Catholic Church. That’s not to say everything the pope says is infallible, but the Holy Spirit remains with the Church as Christ promised.
It's not idolatry because we don't actually pray to the saints as you'd pray to God. You're asking the saint(s) to pray for you, much in the same way you'd ask a friend or members of your parish to pray for you.
Jesus intercedes with God for us when we pray, no need to pray to anyone else.
It's hard to pray directly to God for intercession. Allowing Saints to handle your prayers is much easier and it's much closer to home since they are people too. We are all called to be like Christ but, we will never be like him. We all can be like the Saints, since they are just like us, men and women stuck in this valley of tears, called to be like Christ.
I don't see how it's splitting hairs because it's a binary option: we're either prayering to the saints as we would God or not...and we don't