Debating a Protestant converting to Catholicism

[Guest]

I have a friend who is a Protestant in the process of converting to Catholicism, largely due to the many frustrations he has with Protestantism, which I feel are justified. (We differ, however, in what we see as the solution.)

The strongest argument he has thus far for apostolic succession is that the popes never contradicted the teachings of prior popes. Does anyone know if this is true or not? If so, please cite your sources so I can verify them.

Also, if anyone could point me towards any sources or other threads on here which deal with Catholic doctrines, etc., that would great. For example, I'm interested in learning more about the teachings of the early church fathers, and whether or not their teachings were more "Protestant" than "Catholic."

I've already listened to Steve's debate with Tim Staples and will probably be sending him those audio files.

Thanks a bunch in advance for any assistance you can offer me!

[Guest]

I have a friend who is a Protestant in the process of converting to Catholicism, largely due to the many frustrations he has with Protestantism, which I feel are justified. (We differ, however, in what we see as the solution.)

The strongest argument he has thus far for apostolic succession is that the popes never contradicted the teachings of prior popes. Does anyone know if this is true or not? If so, please cite your sources so I can verify them.

If you go to James White's website, there is a debate on Papal Infalibility there, in which his argument for the whole debate hinges on just what you are asking about.

He reads a lot of the contradictions, and gives sources, etc. I think the debate is $2.99 or something.

Good luck!

[Guest]

The strongest argument he has thus far for apostolic succession is that the popes never contradicted the teachings of prior popes. Does anyone know if this is true or not? If so, please cite your sources so I can verify them.


I think prior to Vatican 2 the RCC position was that if you did'nt participate in their mass you could'nt be saved but then they changed that. Did the bible change?
I would challenge him on the eucharist which is the heart of the RCC because when Christ said to "eat my flesh and drink my blood" in John 6 it was a year before his death.
There's a lot of other things but the eucharist IMO is their biggest weakness because at the Passover dinner Christ symbolically made himself the Passover lamb, but i don't think he ever changed it from anything other then a Passover rememberance. Deliverance from slvery/deliverance from sin.

[Guest]

An interesting tidbit on infallibility: Pope Adrian VI unequivocally denied the pope is infallible. If he was correct, the pope is not infallible, and if he was incorrect, he proved the pope to be fallible.

[Guest]

I think most Protestants misunderstand the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. I've linked the Catholic Answers tract on the doctrine.

Obviously, it'd be hard for a Pope to infallibly teach that the Pope is not infallible. Kind of a Catch-22. We have to keep in mind that Catholics don't actually believe that everything a Pope says comes under the umbrella of "infallible." He has to be speaking from the Chair (ex cathedra).

BTW, I'm not Catholic. Just figured we could use some perspective from those "in the know."

Catholic Answers' Page

[Guest]

RO, I am not sure whether this will be helpful, but there were many periods in Catholic history in which there were two competing popes. Eventually, the Catholic Church rejected one of the two as being an "antipope" ("instead of pope"). Obviously, there had to be an independent decision within the Catholic Church to determine which of the two was the "true" pope and which was the "antipope". On at least one occasion, the one first declared to be an "antipope" was later restored as a "true" pope.

There are even four antipopes alive today!

Here is a wikipedia article on antipopes, including a list of antipopes throughout Catholic history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope

[Guest]

Thank you, gentlemen! You were very helpful! Keep an eye on this thread for me, will ya? I'm sure I'll be back with more questions as I dig into this stuff. Thanks!

[Guest]

Pope John Paul II - Against the Inquisition
Pope John Paul II himself didn't entirely agree with all of his predecessors. He declared the Inquisition, which was established by a Papal Bull under Sixtus IV (1471-1484), the "greatest error in Church history." [2]

Pope John Paul II contradict. < Here's the link.