Catholic Myth #5: We Think the Pope is God
Catholic, Misconceptions April 2nd, 2005It’s been awhile since I’ve written about Catholic
misconceptions, but given the large number of questions and assumptions about this subject from
people visiting my prayer page for the Pope, I wanted to briefly address it. First,
Catholics do NOT believe that the Pope is God. The Pope is a man, albeit one
that we Catholics believe has been called to the highest office in the Church
and when exercising that office has special gifts and prerogatives. So, why do we
call him holy father then?
Even the word pope comes from the Latin for papa, i.e. dad.
The pope functions as an earthly father to God’s family, much like St. Joseph functioned as
a foster father to Jesus while on earth, or a child has his own earthly father.
None of these take away from God’s ultimate and supreme position as Father. In
fact, especially if the earthly father is holy and has integrity, then God’s
role as Father is more clearly modeled and understood. In this way, John Paul
II especially has revealed God’s love to so many people.
So, why do we call him “holy” father? This is related to why
we call the Church “holy” in the creeds. In spite of a membership of sinners,
she is holy because her head, Christ, is holy. The catechism states:
"The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to
be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with
the Father and the Spirit is hailed as ‘alone holy,’ loved the Church
as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he
joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the
Holy Spirit for the glory of God." The Church, then, is "the holy People of God," and her members are called "saints." (#823)
Also, in spite of a Pope’s human frailties, he can be called holy because of his office as Pope.
Once again, the holiness that comes from this office comes not from him or his actions, but only from the
holiness and grace of Christ, which we believe he gives to all in the Church
who seek him.
In conclusion, please do not confuse what we are saying. However,
we speak with affection towards John Paul II because to Catholics, he is our
spiritual earthly father, one who has graciously modeled the love of the Father
in heaven to us. And, like an earthly father, his sickness and nearing death are
heartbreaking. This little essay is NOT meant to start a debate, but to help people understand where we come from, whether agreed or not.
Sources and further reading:
Essay XI: Rev. George D. Smith
Is the Pope A Holy Father?
Andrew Apologetic Ministries
Catechism of the Catholic Church
April 2nd, 2005 at 12:56 pm
May the Good Lord, when it is time to take our dear and Holy Father Pope John Paul II, bring him to His Heavenly throne in a peaceful way. May our Blessed Virgin Mary which our dear Pope had an ardent affecton, wrap him in the mantle of her protection and the fold of her arms. May all the angels and saints, escort him to his heavenly throne to meet the Lord Almighty. We ask these to you oh Dear God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Dear Pope John Paul, we love you and will truly miss you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all what you have done for us here on earth. Please pray for all of us when you are there in your heavenly throne.
April 2nd, 2005 at 1:45 pm
MAY GOD BE WITH YOU ALWAYS AND MAY YOU BE SOROUNDED BY ANGELS AND SAINTS HEN YOU ENTER THE HEAVENS AND ALWAYS REMEMBER US AND PRAY FOR US LIKE YOU DID WHILE YOU WHERE HERE ON THIS EARTH. WE WILL MISS YOU DEARLY.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:26 am
I’m sick and tired of other denominations slandering our much loved Pope. They say ‘the Pope represents himself as God himself on the earth’. Little do they realise that our Holy Father’s office is of great importance and significance. In Ist and 2nd Timothy the scriptures state the qualifications of those who serve in the Lord’s administration, 1st Timothy 3: 9 ‘Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience’. This mystery is too profound to sum up in just a collection of books (bible) as john 21:25 writes ‘and their are also many other things which Jesus did that which if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen’. Why is it so hard to believe that God through the oldest faith the (Roman Catholic church) tradition, has ordained and allocated offices for the service of the priests and God’s people, through councils and dogmas over the centuries, which we have today. I believe it! How narrow minded to boldly declare slanderous accusations against our much loved ‘Holy Father’. These other denominations should look at the plank in their own eye, when they want to be called ‘Pastor’ and they want their congregation to worship them. They wear their thousand dollar suits, and drive their sixty thousand dollar cars. They teach fear and intimidation, that ‘if you don’t tithe them you are cursed’. These television preachers do more damage and destroy the faith of many, and they say, we ‘the Catholic’s, practice idolatry because we worship the Pope and Mary’. Ignorant they are, because they don’t understand the significance of progressive revelation. O f course, during the centuries when God worked through his church (RC), the ministers recorded the commnications, acts and miracles of the workings of God’s Spirit. Now, we have nearly two thousand years of Catholic Canon Law, WHICH ARE THE RECORDINGS OF THOSE WORKINGS. We can say as Saint John, ‘there isn’t enough BOOKS to write down all the workings of the Holy Spirit’. AMEN!