When did the world get such horrible misconceptions about the Catholic Church?

Question

-So few of our clergy have ever done anything wrong. Why do we get shoved more into the spotlight?
-Why do people insist we a polytheistic simply because we pray to the saints, Mary, and dead relatives for guidance, and have images of them for rememberance?
-Why do people treat us so harshly for things like the Crusades? Would they simply let their own people be slaughtered and allow their own lands to be taken?
-Whats wrong with the Pope? If people have presidents for a country, then what is wrong with a spiritual leader for a religion?
-We are, perhaps, one of the most easy-going of the Christian religions. Why are we treated as harsh and cruel?
-Why do people say we do not follow the bible? All of our dogma stems from the messages of Jesus. It is just that the first interpretation of the bible (by Catholics) was different from the later versions.
-If only people did not take what the media says as gospel truth. Please, study the history and religion for yourselves.

Answer 1

There are some posters on this site with a strong anti-Catholic bias. However, I don't think that most people seriously believe the nonsense about Catholics worshiping statues and so forth. I am a Roman Catholic living in a heavy Fundamentalist region. I hear anti-Catholic opinions, some of them almost violent in tone, pretty much every day of the week. However, I see it as an opportunity for a bit of gentle education. When you press most of these people, you'll find out that they've never actually talked to a practicing Catholic in their lives, and certainly have never visited a Catholic church. From there, one can begin presenting facts instead of fiction. And while doing so, I don't attempt to gloss over past abuses of the Church, which are historically documented; however, I do point out that these abuses, although tragic, are certainly not all that our Church is about.

Answer 2

Take off the blinders.....
Lets start with "I am your God and I am a jealous god. You shall not pray to any other than me"
That translated mean no "Mary full of grace" /no saints:::a big no no. They, or the pope is not the intermediary between you and God,..... Jesus is the only one.
Thou shalt not have graven images of me.(that is a commandment.) Hey this is in the Bible (unless the CC have edited out that part.)
During the Crusades Knights went out into the lands in search of the Holy Grail. They were ordained by the Church to go out into the lands and search for the holy grail and spread the word cause the Christian church was the only church and all others were wrong(no debate about it) Take what you need from the lands because the church has given you the right to do so(they got to eat too). No need to recompense the peasants. If the peasants should protest, cut them down like blade of grass.(((So who is slaughtering who for who?)))
Easy going? What, you don't count the conflicts fought in the name of religion, Ireland comes immediately to mind Catholics vs the Protestants. Maybe because the church is raking in all that money and lands.
Find out what Protestants are, and why they came to be. Every christian church that doesn't have Roman Catholic, is a protestant. Look too to note that the "Church" decided which of the historical writings were gospel and which were not.

In your own words.
"Please study history and religion for yourself"
You ain't read nothing yet.

Answer 3

- You might want to check history again. The clergy have done plenty of things wrong.
- You might want to try READING the Bible. Praying to anyone other than God THROUGH Christ is wrong. Further, the dead, according to scripture, are conscious of nothing at all (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Psalm 146:4). So praying to them for guidance is doing you absolutely no good. God specifically forbids the making of idols and bowing down to them. If you've made an idol and you're standing in front of it and praying to it, you're practicing idolatry.
- The Crusades wasn't a matter of simply fighting to keep land...it was a fight to convert people against their will.
- A Christian's leader should not be someone making himself prominent among the nations. A Christian's leader should be CHRIST. The Pope and the Catholic Church get involved in politics which is something Christ said his true followers would not be involved with. The Scriptures show that false religion, also known as "Babylon the Great" (Bablyon in its time was the world center of false worship), is also depicted as a harlot riding a wild beast. The wild beast is symbolic of the political elements of the world. If you read about it, the outcome for the harlot (false religion) who is committing fornication with the kings of the earth (getting involved in politics) is that she becomes hated by the beast who will make her devastated, naked and finally will "eat up her fleshy parts and completely burn her with fire."
- Being "easy-going" doesn't make someone a good person. Being obedient to God's word is what makes someone good.
- Your dogma DOES NOT stem from the Bible. The Catholic Church even acknowledges that most of their teachings stem, not from the first century Christian followers of Christ, but from Platonic teachings and pagan traditions. Try looking at the New Catholic Encyclopedia regarding some of the doctrines and their origins. The idea that humans have an immortal soul that survives the death of the body is a teaching of Plato. Every Catholic holiday is completely polluted with paganism...Christmas - think Santa Claus, mistletoe, yule logs, gifts, lighted trees. Easter - think rabbits, eggs, even the name "Easter" belongs to a pagan goddess. The list goes on and on.
- Instead of asking that others study the history of your church, perhaps it would be more beneficial for YOU to study the history of the Catholic Church and its teachings. Speaking only for myself, I've already done MY research.

Answer 4

The last Pope, John Paul II apologized for the Crusades. Even he was very ashamed of it and the involvement of the Catholic Church. The history of the Catholic Church and her Popes is very bloody. Many traditions of the church are condemned in God's Holy Bible. The statues, praying to Mary and the saints, pergatory, confessions to the priests and the Pope are not found in God's Holy Bible. Why does the Pope think that Christ needs him to represent Christ on earth? Christ left us the Holy Spirit.

Men died for the King James Version of the Bible because the Pope didn't want the Bible translated to English. This Pope was evil and not Christian. The Pope is the richest man in the world and his office has done many bloody, horrible things.

Answer 5

I can see your frustration and not everyone thinks that way. I am protestant and admit I do find a lot of the things Catholics practice as unnecessary or strange. I don't condemn you for it.
I've been to Catholic church and just didn't feel comfortable.

I know how the media like to run with what they think is a good story and it's sad that people actually form opinions from this.
Look, it's not so much Catholicism as it is Christianity that is scrutinized and Catholics take up a large section in the Christian community. Just continue to seek God how you would find Him and keep your head up. It's not worth letting a few ignorant people steal your joy.

(By ignorant I mean people who are cruel to you just b/c you are Catholic, not people who disagree with your practices)

Answer 6

I'm afraid we Catholics brought a lot of it on ourselves. The very abuses Martin Luther pointed out were defended, as he was condemned. (Paying money for the remission of sins? Inexcusable!) The worst practices were abandoned during the "Counter-reformation" that culminated in the Council of Trent, but to Protestants it sounded like a whitewash, as traditions were explained, rather than evaluated.

The fact of the Reformation also contributed to the problem. Because the Roman church was "wrong", Protestants had an interest in looking for more examples of its wrongness. Because they could no longer claim an unbroken historical path to Christ (since that path was now corrupt), they were forced to reject nearly every doctrine that had been proclaimed by the Church, except for a few critical ones like the Trinity and the dual nature of Christ (Didn't want to fight THOSE battles again).

Their sole authority was to be the Bible. Unfortunately, the Bible did not foresee every development that would arise. They required the Bible to do so, so some positions depended on a few very narrowly interpreted verses. They could not afford the luxury of depending on Spirit-invoking but nonetheless very human councils.

The objective for some Protestant denominations became to put as much distance between themselves and Rome as scripturally possible. So Rome became "Babylon" and the pope became the "whore of Babylon", and on it went. Any verse that could be turned against Catholicism, was. Some denominations got tired of this after a while but others (most notably the younger ones) seem to make it a major part of their doctrine.

And they have a point. There are scriptures that clearly condemn what they condemn. "Thou shalt make no graven images." "Call no man "father". "We have but one great high priest." Catholics have explanations for their apparent disregard for the "rules", but to a Protestant, it sounds like excuse-making. Our "easy-goingness" is considered lax observance. We can't defend the Crusades, or the Inquisitions, those were clearly ignorant and unwarranted land and power grabs. And the relatively late (1870) doctrine of papal infallibility, as seldom as it is employed, is still a roiling controversy everywhere outside of the Curia.

The Catholic church has multiple reasons for clerical celibacy, the distractions of spouse and family, the avoidance of clerical dynasties, but this also creates problems in counselling married laity as well as the issues of basic clerical humanity. Some recent issues, such as the ordination of women, have been handled with very casuistic logic.

The media is culpable, but scandal sells papers. People have the responsibility to sort sensationalism from fact but many lack the tools or inclination. The priests who have abused children are very few in number, but for one, their superiors have handled the problem terribly (creating a greater scandal), and for another, the people who are looking for reasons to hate the Catholic church will find them.

The biggest problem is probably the nature of opposition. This who have an axe to grind are more likely to speak up. Those who see Catholics as members of a fallible, human institution, trying to follow Christ in their own way, don't speak up as often.

Answer 7

I think you glossed over the part about Martin Luther when he posted his reasons the Catholic church was wrong. Was he not condemmed for his writings? Stuff like lay investure or telling people that Uncle morty would be trapped in prugatory unless a donation was made to the church. Yeah nothing wrong with that or the my two Popes episode. I suggest you check the facts before glossing them over.

Answer 8

I am disappointed with some of these answers. Yes there may be some people in the Catholic Church that may have done something worng. For example: If one priest rapes a boy/girl in one town out of 25 towns you would leave the church just because of that one priest?

Answer 9

faith creates a reason-loose zone the position the acts you aspect out flourish. So Christianity 'inspired' the crusades. Exploring the ethics of our movements for ourselves is discouraged through religions, who as a change choose deferral to authority figures. This creates the an ethical vacuum with disastrous effects for human being morality and wider society.

Answer 10

i will answer in the same order, ok?
(please do not feel attacked, you made a question, well here is my answer.)
-raping kids.
-a saint is a complete nonsense.
-crusaders were the bad ones, don't twist it.
-pope poops in a golden toilet while thousands of children poop in bushes.
-easy going or religiously lazy ?
-follow the bible at your own convinience.
-history and religion is exactly what prove catholics are the worst of the worst.



Catholicism is not a religion......
Catholicism is a zone of comfort.