Fine by me

[quote="Hell Scream"]I am a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. That good enough for you? My church didn't kill as many people as the Catholic Church did.

Ouch. That hurt. Well, I am Roman Catholic, I do follow the pope and the Church, and I do practice my faith.

Now, the Roman Catholic Church did indeed persecute. I admit it was a corrupt time and we had our downfalls and failures. However, just like all organizations, including Orthodox and Protestant, it had some bad times. For those who understand this, people do sin. But from sin can come redemption, God's healing grace. The Crusades were to fight the Muslims for the Holy Land and liberate fellow Christians from a tyranny.

Maximillian

And by what right does the pope call himself our father ?

I am catholic. but i dont wanna debate you.

Just to clear something up, are you Christian? Because that would make this easier to explain.

Proud Agnostic

Anyone else, bring the fun.

Okay, so, as an agnostic, you do believe in some sort of "higher power." Maybe you won't name it, but you believe that things happen for a reason and not randomness. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) For us, God is our higher power. As Christians, the Bible is the Word of God. We Catholics are the first Christians in history. In the Bible, God gives the keys to Saint Peter, saying,"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, ... Whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mt: 16 18-19) This is the proclamation of Peter being the first pope. From him, he has successors, all with the keys of Heaven.
When Jesus said to the Pharisees "call one your father, for you have but one Father in Heaven." (Mt 23:9), he was keeping the Pharisees from being too proud. If we could call no one father, then our Founding Fathers or biological fathers wouldn't have the titles.

So there you go.

Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, whom, according to the Bible, Jesus named as the "shepherd" and "rock" of the Church.[4]

In the early Christian era, Rome and a few other cities had claims on the leadership of worldwide ("Catholic") church. James the Just, known as "the brother of the Lord", served as head of the Jerusalem church, which is still honored as the "Mother Church" in Orthodox tradition. Alexandria had been a center of Jewish learning and became a center of Christian learning. Rome had a large congregation early in the apostolic period, and Paul the Apostle was martyred there.

Early Christianity (c 30 - 325)

During the first century of the Christian Church (ca. 30-130), the Roman capital became recognized as a Christian center of exceptional importance; but there are only a few references of that time to recognition of the authoritative primacy of the Roman See outside of Rome. In the Ravenna Document of 13 October 2007, theologians chosen by the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches stated: "41. Both sides agree ... that Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the Bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium." In addition, in the last years of the first century AD the Church in Rome intervened in the affairs of the Christian Church in Corinth to help solve their internal disputes.

Later in the second century AD, there were further manifestations of Roman authority over other churches. In 189 AD, assertion of the primacy of the Church of Rome may be indicated in Irenaeus of Lyons's Against Heresies (3:3:2): "With [the Church of Rome], because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree... and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition." And in 195 AD, Pope Victor I, in what is seen as an exercise of Roman authority over other churches, excommunicated the Quartodecimans for observing Easter on the 14th of Nisan, the date of the Jewish Passover, a tradition handed down by St. John the Evangelist (see Easter controversy). Celebration of Easter on a Sunday, as insisted on by the Pope, is the system that has prevailed (see computus).

Early popes helped spread Christianity and resolve doctrinal disputes.[1]

Nicea to East-West Schism (325 - 1054)

Nope, I believe there may or may not be a higher power, and live my life how I want to live it, not under the rules of a higher power that, for all I know, may not exist.