The Chair of Peter is Vacant

[Sirius]

To be honest, it looks more like magic than science to me. Say the spell wrong and it won't work. Forget to add one ingredient to your magic soup and it will have no magic effect. 

I once attended a tridentine mass out of pure curiosity. I don't see how it should be more valid than a modern mass. The essence of the Eucharist is the same. It requires a semi-pagan mindset to focus on ceremonial side of things so that stuff is spelled correctly and proper sacrifices are offered lest the petty deities become furious and change the petitioner into a frog instead of granting him all the riches in the world.

Yeah idk, these guys sure are doing allot of magic and making it overly complicated while withholding it from the masses. Weird setup.

I'm enjoying these threads, learning allot, even if the politics are boring much is revealed.

[Maxmars]

In any religion which has thousands of years of history and tradition, there will be ritual and practice that eludes or escapes modern analysis. 
Likening it to magic ceremonies, and mystic drama is organic and a natural tendency.

The role of prime leader of a religious organization will always be buried under deeply protected protocols and defensive postures... including 'rules' that were established over lengthy periods of time, and influenced by transient emotional movements and publicly shared accommodations we humans impose on nearly everything.

Many agree that the state of the institution is now rife with inconsistencies and disagreements...  many feel this is representative of a forgone decay... although, realistically, those objections and "final" troubles have been around for centuries... many of each generation declaring their notional arrival at the "this is it" moment.

Truthfully, the role of "Pope" is irrevocably responsible to the church... but since "the church" is often considered as an entity embodying the clergy, the leaders are focused there... rather than the personages of those faithful in Christ... the actual children of God... the faithful.  The actual, and entire "point" of the church.

We are all individuals, including the clergy.  So there is always hope, and reason to believe that we can 'figure it out.'  And we will... eventually.

[Sirius]

In any religion which has thousands of years of history and tradition, there will be ritual and practice that eludes or escapes modern analysis. 
Likening it to magic ceremonies, and mystic drama is organic and a natural tendency.

The role of prime leader of a religious organization will always be buried under deeply protected protocols and defensive postures... including 'rules' that were established over lengthy periods of time, and influenced by transient emotional movements and publicly shared accommodations we humans impose on nearly everything.

Many agree that the state of the institution is now rife with inconsistencies and disagreements...  many feel this is representative of a forgone decay... although, realistically, those objections and "final" troubles have been around for centuries... many of each generation declaring their notional arrival at the "this is it" moment.

Truthfully, the role of "Pope" is irrevocably responsible to the church... but since "the church" is often considered as an entity embodying the clergy, the leaders are focused there... rather than the personages of those faithful in Christ... the actual children of God... the faithful.  The actual, and entire "point" of the church.

We are all individuals, including the clergy.  So there is always hope, and reason to believe that we can 'figure it out.'  And we will... eventually.

Well said. I can even understand why not everyone would want to do certain rights and practices, because you become a priest and have no choice.  Can't have a functional community if everyone is speaking in tongues. However it should not be secret and people should not be persecuted, if this happens then it's simply a control mechanism.