Leah O'Donovan

CAVEAT: Apologies to my Catholic friends; please don’t take this personally. 

The Vatican today declared that all non-Catholic churches have ‘wounds’ because they do not recognise the primacy of the Pope. Pope Benedict previously headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which produced the report.

The document said the Council’s opening to other faiths recognized there were “many elements of sanctification and truth” in other Christian denominations, but stressed only Catholicism had all the elements to be Christ’s Church fully.

I’m sorry but as a non-Catholic (Protestant FYI) I’m slightly offended by that. I think that my church has just as many ‘elements’ of Christ as the Catholic church and, in some instances, more. Go to a Catholic mass sometime; it can be as boring as watching paint dry. Then, go to a good old Southern Baptist church where, yes, there may be a bit of hootin’ and hollerin’ going on but I bet you’d enjoy it a lot more than a long, drawn-out Mass that, if it’s in Latin (which the Vatican has also recently called to be reinstated), you may not even understand half of! Fun times, let me tell you.

The point of this post, however, is more to mention the fact that Pope Benedict offended the religion of Islam back nearly a year ago. He said

Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

The Vatican and the Pope himself certainly appear to be on course to piss off all of the major religions, don’t they? Technically Christianity includes Catholicism and Protestantism so, really, they’re pissing off their own people. What’s next? Eat a big, juicy steak in front of a Hindu audience? Give me a break.

The Bible clearly states that the only way to God is through Christ. I don’t need an intermediary to speak to Him and I certainly don’t need a Pope.