Question about Catholic Religon?

Question

I am trying to learn so please dont be rude. Why do catholics pray to a pope and a mother mary? I thought god and jesus were the only ones that can forgive us and accept us into heaven and also the only ones to forgive us of our sins?

Answer 1

Catholics don't pray to the pope. Mary is considered an "intercessor" with her son Jesus, kind of like the good mama who can calm her son and is a mama figure to Catholics. Priests forgiving sins in confession: Priests are said to be given the "power" to forgive in Jesus' "place"... bad analogy but my opinion as a Catholic was that confessing a misdeed is comforting to some to do so to a person and be given "absolution" instead of carrying on with their guilt. I say if it works for them... peace. I don't agree with it all myself but that's just me...

WHOOPS... almost forgot to mention that Mary isn't someone to pray to for DIRECT intervention... she's like a finger pointing to Jesus and God... you don't pray to the finger directly but ask her for intercession which is considered "prayer"... hope that makes some sense....

_()_

Answer 2

Actually the part about the praying to the pope is false the pope is the head of the catholic church but he is not a saint and is not prayed to.

Catholics pray to Mary because she is a saint and catholics pray to god Jesus and all the saints. It is more a respect thing than a worship thing but people like to pick on catholics so they claim we do what we do as a form of false worship.

We are Christ based just like other christian religions.

I hope this helped you it's what I believe to be true and I have been catholic for 31 years.

Answer 3

Pastor Billy says: Your question has less to do with Catholic Christianity and more to do with language. Lets break your question down into several parts

Part 1. Praying to Mary and Popes
In Old English the word pray did not solely mean godly worship. In it's simplest definition the word pray * v. or prayer n. can mean 'to ask', 'to request' and that is what Catholics do if they "pray" to Mary. As others have already explained Catholics do not pray (ask) the current Pope from afar yet I am very positive many who are in his presence surely do.

Part 2. forgiveness of sins
I suggest you read John 20:20-22 the authority to forgive sins was given to the apostles, to men by Jesus. this is not to say that God's authority is not present in forgiveness of these sins by priests.


Addition note: everyone refering to the mediator being Jesus only are attempting to set up a false dichotomy as Catholicism confesses as well Jesus is the one mediator between the Father and man. What is truly different however between the Catholic understanding and the non-catholic one is in Catholicism it is not left to the individual believer to decide for Jesus Christ in how he administers his mediatorship or through whom. The Catholic understand realizes Jesus incorporates his Church into his mediatorship and can choose for himself how it works therefore our prayers of intercession do count.

Finally there is no doctrine within Catholicism that demands Christian Catholics pray (ask) anyone on heaven or earth to pray for them to God.

Warning
Be mindful all you non-catholics that if you truly claim you "pray straight to God" you had better stop 'praying' or asking family members, pastors, great aunties, and TammySue down at the bible chapel to "pray" for you!

Answer 4

That my friend is an excellent question....Catholics who pray to Mary and other dead saints, or bow to kiss the popes ring as is the custom, or encourage others to do so clearly are not christians.... seeing as the Bible says that there is only one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus the Christ... but dont take my word for it see fo yourself... 1 Tim 2:5

Hail Mary??? Can u find it in scripture....Cuz i cant

God said "If my people who are called by name will pray, I will hear from heaven....(2 chronicles 7:14)

That scripture Didn't say anything about mary or peter or anyone else for that matter answering prayers on God's behalf...as if God has better things to do then hear what his child has to say...

But trust me praying to dead saints are only the drop in the bucket when it comes to the twisted things the roman catholic religion has up it sleeves.... for instance when was the last time u checked out the 10 commandments in the roman catholic bible???

if u have.... then u should have noticed how they conveniently omit laws such as "thou shall not create graven images of anything that is in the heaven above...."

The roman catholics have more statues of angels and things of the sort then the sand on the seas shore.... i could go all day but i will leave it at that.... and encourage you to.... "Study" & "Pray"

Wisdom and knowledge belong to the Lord and he freely gives to those who ask it of Him...

Answer 5

You are absolutely right! Only God can forgive our sins through his son and our mediator, Jesus Christ. The catholic church teaches that the pope is a mediator between God and man, however the bible states that there is only One mediator between God and man...namely Jesus Christ. I guess that sort of leaves the pope out in the cold talking to himself since we can only approach God through his Son! The other thing is should we be performing acts of worship before images of mary, joseph, the neighbours dog, etc.??? The bible refers to this as idolatry and is a condemned act. The bible also says that God is a spirit and that those worshipping him should be worshipping him with spirit and truth, therefore religious objects have nothing to do with true worship.

Answer 6

>>Why do catholics pray to a pope and a mother mary?<<

We do not pray in the way you are implying, i.e. adoration. We ask Mary to pray FOR us (it is right there in the Hail Mary: "pray for us"), because the Bible says "pray for one another" (James 5:16). We believe she is in Heaven and can hear us talk to her. As for the pope, we pray for him, he prays for us, and we pray together.

>>I thought god and jesus were the only ones that can forgive us and accept us into heaven and also the only ones to forgive us of our sins?<<

Jesus IS God, and yes, only God can forgive sin. He gave the Apostles the authority to act in His name. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained." - John 20:23. Follow the links for more scripture references.

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To Common Sense, who wrote, "Hail Mary??? Can u find it in scripture....Cuz i cant":

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, (Luke 1:28)
Blessed Art Thou amongst women, (Luke 1:42)
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, (Luke 1:42)
Holy Mary, Mother of God, (Luke 1:43)
Pray for us sinners, now (James 5:16)
and at the hour of our death.
Amen

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Common Sense also wrote, "for instance when was the last time u checked out the 10 commandments in the roman catholic bible??? if u have.... then u should have noticed how they conveniently omit laws such as 'thou shall not create graven images of anything that is in the heaven above....'"

I invited everyone to do just that. The last link will take you to the Bible that is used by Catholic churches throughout the United States. See if what Common Sense claims is true for yourself.

Answer 7

We pray to God, but we can pray to Mary because she is Jesus's mother. We don't pray to the Pope, we pray for him. We pray to Saints, also...everyone around God that we pray to have prayers for us to say and they all help us out in our daily lives.

Answer 8

Well now that's one of the many reasons why I left the religion. Many of the practices are not supported by scripture. What other posts are saying is correct though, they do not pray to the Pope. But there is no scripture to support praying to Mary or saints.

Answer 9

We DON'T "pray" to the Pope. We "pray" to Mary as she was Jesus' Mother, out of respect to Him.

Answer 10

I'm not Catholic but my wife was. She really knows all, trust me.

She said that the prayers of the Saints and the Pope have more credibility than ours do.

I see this as asking the Saints/Pope to move our request to the top of the list.