Why Do Popes Sin?

[Guest Guest]

If the Pope is appointed by God, then how come there have been so many horrible popes, bearing illegitimate children and living extravagantly and completely disregarding the Gospel? :huh:

[BLAZEr]

The pope is Chosen, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the College of Cardinals. However, in all of this both the Cardinals and the Pope have free will.

God is giving to a particular bishop the gift of an opportunity to shepherd the Church of Christ. It is an amesome responsibility and a grave duty. The Pope can choose to follow God's will in this process or follow his own will. "And by their fruits we will know them." It's an interesting fact of history that busy thou the bad popes were with their concubines and their wars and their treasure building, they were not very busy writing encyclicals or bulls or enunciating Doctrine and dogma.

The Holy Spirit does not abandon the Church and in an odd way, when a pope chooses to follow his own will rather then the Will of God, the Holy Spirit still protects the Church from errors in teaching. That's why you will see that, even though many times bishops and popes and priests and the laity fail to live up to the teachings of the Church, the Church's teachings don't change to accomodate them.

[Winchester]

Welcome.

I do not deny there have been Popes who were sinful indeed. But which ones did you have in mind? How many were there and what were there names, how long did they hold the office of Peter? It would behoove all Catholics to know of Papal history, and since you've obviously researched the actions of certain Popes, please share your knowledge.

[Pontifex]

This is a good question, but one that I think we can use scripture to understand.

Throughout the Gospels, we see Peter, a man who probably struggled more than any other apostle. He was one that rebuked Jesus when he announced his passion. He was the one that cut off the soldiers ear in the Garden. He was the one who asked, "what he was going to get out of it?, since he had given up everything", he is the one that told Jesus, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man." And yet, out of the twelve, he chose Peter to be our first leader. You are Peter and upon this rock, I wil build my Church.

Certainly in the eyes of the apostles, this must have been a shocker to say the least. But God has shown us throughout history that, as Paul says, "Power is made manifest in weakness." There have been Pope's that have sinned, but why should that be a shocker?

The Pope is a man, with a special call. Realize, that not until many many years into the reign of Christendom, did people debate the special character of the Pope. So I ask this rhetorical question to provoke thought, "Why would God, allow his Church to subsist with an erroneous understanding of theology for hundreds of years?" I encourage all those who challenge the Catholic faith, the Churh of original origin, to pick up a history book, as well as the inspired Word of God, and learn for yourselves the Truth.