Jesus Christ came and Died for the Sin of his people, then what is the Pope and Priest Doing?

Question

I know the Catholic believe in Jesus Christ, I just don't understand there need for forgiveness by a Pope or Priest please explain

Answer 1

I am Catholic, and I've never understood the need for a middle man either. I guess thats why I don't support the Catholic teachings, or the church.

Answer 2

He died for the sins, so now its possible to go to heaven.

But that doesn't mean people don't sin.

try reading the bible, not sure of the passage, but it goes something like

"Peace be with you, and as He said this He breathed on them and said 'receive the Holy Spirit, whatever sins you forgive will be forgiven, whatever sins you retain will be retained"

He said this to the apostles, and the priests carry apostolic tradition.

edit-

i'm amused at the answers that say " the catholic church is all rich while everyone else starves"
1. that's not related to the question
2. the catholic church does most in the fight against hunger and poverty

Answer 3

hi. Pope ( our holy father) and fathers (priests) are the representatives of God, Jesus. They teach us everything about Jesus, Our Holy Mother Mary, God and all holy saints. They teach us how to be like Jesus , how to live the life we are supposed to live.

Answer 4

Catholics and Orthodox confess to Christ the One Priest and All-Sufficient Sacrifice and receive His forgiveness through absolution because Jesus said to the Apostles"Whose sins you shall forgive ,they are forgiven..."(Jn20:23) and James5:16 says to confess sins not just secretly to God but to one another.

Answer 5

Martin Luther had a few discussions on this one.
Catholics believe, as far as I know, that the Pope and the priests are the representatives of God on this earth.

Answer 6

making more abomination,why?they teach limbo,confession to priest,wearing sheep clothing but wolves inside,calling themselves father, the apostles dont even know them,''teaching people to kneel,bow the figured wood idols,praying for the dead w/charge, ngek''all of this is not being taught by Jesus and the Apostles'' you catholics are being blinded by so many teachings not being told by the Bible'' talking and praying into wooden image,the Bible said dont make anything that is alike in Heaven,and kneel and worship,like the angels, or the men called saints or angel because of being a lead in church',patrons,'' jesus never said or ask them,to make statue of him to bow down No,Jesus'' wont like it''Jesus might say worship the Father,for he is our God'',but we can worship Jesus too in Prayer,not in a Picture made by hands,or camera work,graphics,and curve wood like a form of Jesus''the virgin mary,and even Magdalene,where do you hear that Magdalene became a saint,never heard of it'' people,of yesterday and today just making money of the figured statue of them called martyrs. angels,saints,cross,pamplets,keychain many more.

Answer 7

+ The Pope +

John 21:15-17 states:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Matthew 16:17-19 states:

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

The Catholic Church believes the Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.

The Pope is the senior pastor of 1.1 billion Catholics, the direct successor of Simon Peter.

The Pope’s main roles include teaching, sanctifying, and governing.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p4.htm#880

+ Reconciliation (Cinfession) +

The Catholic Church believes that "Only God forgives sin."

When a penitent person asks God for forgiveness, his (or her) sins are immediately forgiven.

Catholics also believe that when someone sins they not only hurt their relationship with God, they also injure the entire church, the body of Christ.

Jesus said, "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,"Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." (Luke 20:22-23)

Oral confessing sins is recommended over and over in both the Old and New Testaments:
+ James 5:16
+ Acts 19:18
+ Matthew 3:5-6
+ Mark 1:5
+ 1 Timothy 6:12
+ 1 John 1:9
+ Numbers 5:6-7
+ Nehemiah 9:2
+ Sirach 4:26

The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation with a priest ordained in the name of Jesus Christ not only reconciles the sinner to God but with the entire church, including you and me.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2chpt2.htm

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 8

Living the life of royalty in Vatican City, whilst millions around the world starve.

Answer 9

Reaping the benefits from the Act. Jesus told them, go and make disiples - He didn't say - then build a church and hold them prisoner in it.

Answer 10

The Church teaches that Jesus came and died for our sins - that has always been taught.

Jesus told the apostles, "‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’" (John 20:21–23). (This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It emphasizes how important the establishment of the sacrament of penance was.)

Christ told the apostles to follow his example: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you" (John 20:21). Just as the apostles were to carry Christ’s message to the whole world, so they were to carry his forgiveness: "Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).

This power was understood as coming from God: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). Indeed, confirms Paul, "So we are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20).

Some say that any power given to the apostles died with them. Not so. Some powers must have, such as the ability to write Scripture. But the powers necessary to maintain the Church as a living, spiritual society had to be passed down from generation to generation. If they ceased, the Church would cease, except as a quaint abstraction. Christ ordered the apostles to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." It would take much time. And he promised them assistance: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28:19–20).

If the disciples believed that Christ instituted the power to sacramentally forgive sins in his stead, we would expect the apostles’ successors—the bishops—and Christians of later years to act as though such power was legitimately and habitually exercised. If, on the other hand, the sacramental forgiveness of sins was what some term it, an "invention," and if it was something foisted upon the young Church by ecclesiastical or political leaders, we’d expect to find records of protest. In fact, in early Christian writings we find no sign of protests concerning sacramental forgiveness of sins. Quite the contrary. We find confessing to a priest was accepted as part of the original deposit of faith handed down from the apostles.

The earliest Christian writings, such as the first-century Didache, are indefinite on the procedure for confession to be used in the forgiveness of sins, but a verbal confession is listed as part of the Church’s requirement by the time of Irenaeus (A.D. 180). He wrote that the disciples of the Gnostic heretic Marcus "have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing themselves from the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses" (Against Heresies 1:22).

The sacrament of penance is clearly in use, for Irenaeus speaks of making an outward confession (versus remaining silent) upon which the hope of eternal life hangs, but it is not yet clear from Irenaeus just how, or to whom, confession is to be made. Is it privately, to the priest, or before the whole congregation, with the priest presiding? The one thing we can say for sure is that the sacrament is understood by Irenaeus as having originated in the infant Church.

Note that the power Christ gave the apostles was twofold: to forgive sins or to hold them bound, which means to retain them unforgiven. Several things follow from this. First, the apostles could not know what sins to forgive and what not to forgive unless they were first told the sins by the sinner. This implies confession. Second, their authority was not merely to proclaim that God had already forgiven sins or that he would forgive sins if there were proper repentance.

Such interpretations don’t account for the distinction between forgiving and retaining—nor do they account for the importance given to the utterance in John 20:21–23. If God has already forgiven all of a man’s sins, or will forgive them all (past and future) upon a single act of repentance, then it makes little sense to tell the apostles they have been given the power to "retain" sins, since forgiveness would be all-or-nothing and nothing could be "retained."

Furthermore, if at conversion we were forgiven all sins, past, present, and future, it would make no sense for Christ to require us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors," which he explained is required because "if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt. 6:12–15).

If forgiveness really can be partial—not a once-for-all thing—how is one to tell which sins have been forgiven, which not, in the absence of a priestly decision? You can’t very well rely on your own gut feelings. No, the biblical passages make sense only if the apostles and their successors were given a real authority.

During his lifetime Christ sent out his followers to do his work. Just before he left this world, he gave the apostles special authority, commissioning them to make God’s forgiveness present to all people, and the whole Christian world accepted this, until just a few centuries ago. If there is an "invention" here, it is not the sacrament of penance, but the notion that the sacramental forgiveness of sins is not to be found in the Bible or in early Christian history.