The Catholic Church

During this time, feudalism developed. In the feudal system, weak kings granted lands to greater lords in return for military aid. Greater lords in turn granted lands to lesser lords below them. These nobles governed all people, including clergyman to whom they granted a ‘fief” of land. When a clergyman, who were to pay their loyalty to the pope, became a vassal, or under the charge of a lord who granted him land, it gave the nobles and kings power. But because the papacy had the unified support of the larger peasant class and there were no strong kings to challenge him, the pope gained greater secular power than the nobility in addition to religious influence. Not only could he banish people from the Church through religious excommunication, but he could establish secular decrees like the Peace and Truce of God, which limited the appropriate locations and days for war. Secular powers such as these were previously reserved to kings, and illustrate that the pope due to the weakening of kings in the feudal system, held greater authority.

In the United States, there has often been debate over whether the U.S. Constitution is a “living constitution.” A “living constitution” is the idea that the interpretation of constitutional phrases should take into account the contemporaneous society. In other words, practices and traditions of the government have the ability to change and transform over time in accordance with the changes in society. Similarly, there has often been debate in the religious community as to whether the practices and traditions of the church have the ability to change and transform in order to better suit the needs of its constituents. Two Popes in the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis and Pope Pius IX, have published documents with opposing viewpoints about the church’s ability to change and transform over time. The aforementioned documents also highlight other issues commonly debated within the church. Ultimately, Pope Francis favors a more progressive church, that is opento change, while Pope Pius IX favors a church with more rigid guidelines that follow traditional practices.

He further explained that “the faithful ought not to think that just because priests preside over Mass that they are more important than the people who make up the church itself” (USA Today). Pope Francis is pushing for these reforms in the church because he believes that some of the old traditions in the church are incorrect and immoral and that something needs to change for the better.

If we travel back to the year 1500, the Church (what we now call the Roman Catholic Church) was very powerful both politically and spiritually in Western Europe. For some time the Church was seen as an institution weighed down by internal power struggles. Popes and Cardinals often lived more like kings than spiritual leaders. Popes claimed political as well as spiritual power. They commanded armies, made political alliances and enemies, and, sometimes, even waged war.

Nonetheless, anti- Catholicism still exists in different ways in modern times. While there are no longer legal prejudices that bar Catholics from holding government positions, the rhetoric still exists in every day culture. There are still individuals who are misled concerning Catholic doctrine. It is not considered inappropriate to make fun of Roman Catholic beliefs, unlike it is considered taboo to make fun of Jewish customs. For any type of insensitivity, this lies in the lack of understanding that many individuals have regarding what is truth and what is fiction and the false foundation that much of this rhetoric stands upon. For centuries Protestants were misled by the beliefs that a Catholic influence in America would introduce papal control. Today, this belief is largely overshadowed by generalized misinformation, rather than fear of domination. The government has taken measures to prevent righteous arson from fanatical groups, an improvement from the 1800’s, where the burning of Catholic churches and convents was rampant. Perhaps one aspect that has changed drastically since early American times is the amount of news media given to the pope. Currently Pope Francis is a world renowned icon who is giving a positive outlook to Catholicism with his “common man” to his homily and interaction. Pope Francis is dispelling the hierarchical stigma attached to the Catholic Church, which as illustrated, was the source of discrimination and oppression for Catholics

I was raised in what now would be called White privilege. The Edgemont area in Provo, Utah was an extremely homogenous culture. My family, along with most of the other families in my neighborhood were young, White, middle class, highly educated, conservative, heterosexual, and Mormon with European ancestry. My father, along with most of the other fathers in the neighborhood, was a professor at Brigham Young University. Our culture was based on the teachings of the Mormon Church with a rich pioneer heritage which we celebrated every 24th of July. As children, we would don pioneer garb, decorate wagons and bikes to look like covered wagons or handcarts and march around the church building pretending to be pioneers. Not only was this event fun, but we could feel the pioneer blood flowing through our veins. The pioneers represented to us hard work, sacrifice, devotion, obedience, courage, fortitude and love of God.

Despite the age of these systems, the Catholic Church continues to operate close to them, similar to when they were adopted. The misunderstanding and prejudice towards these systems cause many people to adopt anti-Catholic beliefs for contemporary issues in America. The democratic political system in America clashes with the hierarchical lineage that the Catholic Church possesses. The problem arises when anti-Catholics claim that Catholics are un-American because they follow a hierarchy, rather than the “American” system of democracy. The democratic system allows the people to vote for their leader to govern them, however, the Catholic leader, the Pope, is not chosen by the people of the Catholic Church. Un-American criticism continues with the debates and movements on Sexism and Feminism. As women’s roles are changed, the Catholic Church is keeping true to its origins by keeping the governing body, the priesthood, bishops, Cardinals, and the Pope, a completely male role. The Church is criticized by many as being sexist and by that, un-American, for not allowing ordination for women. “Many Americans / view the church’s ban on women’s ordination largely in terms of democratic principles, or ‘rights’ and representation’” (Martin). Anti-Catholics throw up these accusations of sexism without contemplating the true role of women in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis said in an interview “’Look, in the Church women are more important than men, because the church is a woman / The Church is the bride of Jesus Christ. And the Madonna is more important that popes and bishops and priests’” (Ruiz). This governing structure, as well as other beliefs of the Catholic Church, seem confusing or silly to post-enlightenment ideas. As human philosophy has developed after the Enlightenment, the Church has kept the doctrine the same. This has not caused the anti-Catholic community to criticize

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Illegal immigration, a sensitive problem the whole world faces has affected more people now than ever. Immigration is to move from one place to another where one does not originate from. More than 41.3 million immigrants live in the United States as of 2013 (Pew Hispanic). The Catholic Church confronts immigration and states that we should help these people who are looking for better lives and futures.

the idea of no seats or pews in the Orthodox Church. The high altar is

The media loves this because they now have positive things to say about the Pope and Catholic Church that has been riddled with controversy after controversy beginning with the Vatican Leaks scandal. The media portrays him in a very positive light due to his liberal stances on controversial topics. However, they do not hesitate to point out that he is still indeed the Pope and the head of the Catholic Church and that no matter how cool he may come off, he still is in charge of a strict and regulated religious institution. In an article by Vox regarding the Pope's stance on Global warming, it was mentioned that he was “deeply critical of both our technological mindset and modernity's utilitarian propensities.” This means that even though he supports technology, he does not trust the way that people implement it into their daily lives. In another article by Vice, they write that while the pope may have a twitter, he has not watched television in 25 years. The media will show the pope in a positive light saying that he is at least trying to connect with the youth, as they are our future, but the media also tells us that we are not to be fooled. The Pope is still the head of the Catholic Church and will maintain to preach Catholic teachings; the only difference is that he is endorsing a more liberal approach to running the Catholic

Catholics view the Pope as the 'Vicar of Christ', the visible head of the church on Earth; thus, he is a supreme power in the Church. The teaching about his primacy is rooted in the belief that he is the spiritual successor of St. Peter, who was given the responsibility to care for the Church. The Pope has supreme authority over church councils and should be respected by all other bishops. However, the Pope's authority is only prevalent in regards to practicing of common faith and spiritual leadership. Of course, there have been cases where the Pope abused his power, but at least in theory the Pope is not a dictator ruling with absolute power over the Church.

I attended the Body of Christ (BOC) church service in Oakland Park, Florida run by people from the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. The service was similar in many ways to traditional interdenominational or non-denominational church services. The service started at 10:30 am and was competed by 12:00 noon. What was particularly nice was after the service all attendees were invited to attend pot luck lunch that is provided every week. The service started promptly at 10:30 am. Several songs of contemporary music were played and sang by the worship team and congregation. They also sang two songs that were from the old very traditional church worship at the end one was the Old Rugged Cross and the other Amazing Grace. I was raised Catholic and have attended many different denominations throughout my lifetime. I have for the past 10 years attended an Evangelical Presbyterian

Because the Catholic Church was so corrupt and had made people believe that they were the gatekeepers to salvation. Very few people were able to read the Bible for themselves, they counted on the clergy to read and interpret it for the masses.

The position of the Pope is a generally occupied by a conservative person, but Pope Francis is trying to change the stereotype by using his platform to get people talking about issues important to society. One such issue was addressed in the Pope’s