why is it that the next Pope is chosen only among the cardinals and not among other Roman Catholic leaders????
352378
After the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130 two people were claiming to be Pope. To avoid future confusion, the Tenth Ecumenical Synod (Lateran) in 1139 restricted the election of Pope to cardinals.
112294
It would require some understanding as to the decision making process in the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church is a highly varied body.  There is more internal variation inside the Catholic Church than there is across all of Protestantism.  All Protestant groups have an analog within the Church, the reverse is not true.\n\nFirst, the bible was canonized 350 years after the death of Jesus.  There wasn't a book someone could call the bible to cite as a reference.  They often did cite the scriptures, but they were not referring to the NT in the early Church.  They did also cite that which was handed on, traditio, from the apostles.  The bible is part of what was handed on, but not the whole of what was handed on.\n\nIn the early Church women were not ordained to the major orders, deacon, priest or bishop.  There were deaconesses, but their ordinations were different from the men.  Because early Christians did not do it, the Church cannot change it now.  When John Paul II was asked to rule on ordaining women, he ruled he could not change anything.  Popes and bishops may not make changes to beliefs, even if those beliefs no longer make sense.  Just because roles have changed does not change what was handed on.  Jesus was pretty radical, if he had wanted Mary Magdalene to be an Apostle, he could have made her one.  None of the Twelve, or the Seventy were women.  This may simply have been practical for some reason.  Nonetheless, what is is.\n\nUnlike Protestants who get to vote at conferences about what they believe, the rule in the Catholic Church is simple.  What did the early Christians believe and do?  That guides everything else.
117721
The elect are those chosen by God for salvation and eternal life. There is considerable debate around whether the elect are already chosen (i.e. who is to be saved is already determined) and whether Jesus died for all or simply the elect. Equally, there is the argument that such decisions will be made on the day of judgement. Thats a whole other issue :-)
693686
the pope is the head of the catholic religion, just like any corporation the share holders don't get to choose the ceo, or president whatever
660470
Catholics have a pope who is the head of all the catholic churches in the world but Orthodox don't have a pope
95204
As the head of state of the Vatican, his salary would be confidential.  Only certain orders have vows of poverty but the Pope is not one of them.  The Cardinals are known as the "princes" of the church and that is not given lightly.  It would be reasonable to suppose that his total compensation would be similar to other european heads of states.
112048
Pope is not the beast. Its antichrist. There will be a mark on his forehead, others can see it but he can't. He will have some satanic powers to make the followers.
293766
A big reason is that many Catholics are more worldly than the Church and God call them to be.  They are "cafeteria Catholics", choosing the parts of the faith that they like and dismissing the rest.  Another reason is that many Catholics are poorly taught . . . they haven't had any teaching since middle or high school (and haven't sought any), so they aren't sure of what is true and what isn't.  Also, there are some who profess the Catholic faith and teach error (my husband was at a meeting of RCIA where a teacher, who had been in the seminary, but left, told the candidates that the Church teaches that birth control is wrong, but that they would be in "big trouble" if they didn't use it).  \n\nIn addition, not using birth control doesn't mean that a woman will have many children.  A good friend, who I think got married in her late twenties, has one living child.  She has also had a miscarriage and had a baby die a few days after birth.  They are not using birth control, but God has not chosen to give her many children at this time.  This is something I must constantly remind myself of, because I tend to judge others based on what I see . . . and a small family doesn't mean small faith in God.  :-)
11358
Because they became powerful by instilling fear, and power corrupts, and no one is stopping them.  You can't say why "did", you should say why "does" the church change so much, then suppress so much.  The Pope is as close to God as the rest of us.
115054
The Pope is nothing more than a Bishop (as are the Cardinals).  Just a highly elevated Bishop (much like the Archbishop is an elevated Bishop).\n\nHe is the Bishop of Rome, because that is his diocese.  There are other Bishops in Rome, to be sure.  I think the title comes from St. Peter, who was the first Bishop of Rome (before there was the Holy See and before there was a Vatican City-State), and the Pope is the 265th(?) successor to Peter, and they keep the title of Bishop of Rome.\n\nAm I 100% sure of that?  No, but it makes sense to me.\n\n** Edit **\n\nHe is the Holy Father because he is a Priest (and we call our priests Father).  Holy because he is the head of the Church.\n\nWe call our Priests "Father" because they are the representatives of Christ on Earth, and at the Mass and at Confession he is acting "In Persona Christi" (In the Body of Christ).  If you are Catholic and go to Mass you will hear it in the Eucharist.  He says eat my body and drink my blood (as Jesus said in the last supper), not "Jesus said. . ."\n\nAs to whether or not he is "holy", I believe him to be.  He was elected by his peers with guidance from the Holy Spirit.  Not from political campaigning or the like (at least I don't remember signs saying "Vote for Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger for Pope" when I was at the Vatican - just a little humor).\n\nHis title is a little hard for some to accept.  It is true that Jesus said "call no man father on Earth" but he was refering to those that would claim to be from Christs teaching, but really weren't.  I think there is a clear, and unbroken, chain from Jesus, to St. Peter to Benedict XVI.\n\nI hope I helped clear it up.
864087
I don't know if it's actually Canon law or not, but I do know that it's a very strong tradition at the very least. \n\nThe reason is so the former priest doesn't come in to interfere with the current priest's ministry. \n\nAt our church, the retired rector respectfully stayed away for two years so our new priest could reorder matters to his own preference. He now discreetly attends services towards the back of the church. In addition, two other retired Episcopal priests also attend services, but decline to serve on committees, lest it be interpreted as an attempt to interfere.
158484
Too many double negative for al old guy like me, but .... \nAnglicans generally, and officially, attribute no special divine powers to the Pope. Remember, Anglicans broke with Rome when Henry was having his lady-problems way back when.\n\nEven in Catholicism, papal infallibility is relatively new - it was ordained in the 19th century. (BTW, it was opposed vigorously by many American bishops).
477623
The Popes are the successors of Peter. Peter was the first Christian leader of all the christians after the resurrection. He went to Rome and was the leader there for many years until he was crucified by the emperor Nero around 64 AD. All the bishops of Rome (the pope) take their authority from Jesus who  gave Peter the Authorithy to rule. Matthew 16:18-20 and John 21: 15-18
974020
Hasn't the current Pope already said that celibate gay men can't be priests?  Sounds like he's got the first victims picked out already....
819301
What that person said is not true.  The only Vatican decisions one might be able to say are made by the holy spirit are those of the pope when he is speaking ex cathedra - that is, infallibly, on the authority of the promise made to St. Peter.
1042684
Pope Benedict the XVI makes the 266th Pope. Here are the names:  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm\n\nThe answer to how the first Pope came to be can be complex, if only because it is disagreed upon by those outside the Catholic Church.\n\nAs you will notice the first Pope on the list in the link above is St. Peter. This is Peter the Apostle from the Gospel and an author of epistles. I will provide a fuller link below, but here is the short of it.  Peter was considered in Scripture to be the head Apostle since he appears more often, is on every listing of the Apostles first, and had many unique experiences with Christ. Namely, one is Matt 16 especially verse 18. This verse was not contested for over a thousand years until the Eastern Catholic Church broke away and no longer accepted the Papacy. The Catholic Church from the beginning interpreted the verse to mean Christ's Church would be built on Peter, whose name means Rock. Furthermore, it was only Peter who received the unique gifts of the keys which are spoken about in that chapter. There are a couple other instances unique to the position that Christ called Peter to, which are listed in this next link along with the unanimous agreement among the early Church Fathers which prove the authenticity of the history of the Pope as the Catholic Church describes it.\nhttp://www.catholic.com/library/Origins_of_Peter_as_Pope.asp\n\nGood question. Very heavily debated since those outside the Church are taught to be reactive to the very word 'Pope.' I encourage you to read some of the other articles detailing the Pope on that 2nd website. The first one is tougher to understand.\n\nIf you have any more questions please add some details to this post and I will try to return to it later if necessary.\n\nThanks and God Bless.\n\nps. I just saw your additional inquiries. Perhaps this will help you. It is comprehensive in a lot of ways. But is a great read. What I encourage is for you to understand just what the Catholic Church says about the Pope. You are always welcome to view the opposition's argument, but often enough there are people that do not learn about the Catholic Church from the Catholic Church. And they learn things that aren't true or are distortions to bolster an agenda. Good luck in your search.\n\nhttp://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12260a.htm
493170
There have been over 250 popes. I definitely don't know enough to judge properly.\n\nHowever if I had to take a shot, I would vote for St Peter. Anyone who can deny Christ three times, be redeemed and lead the early Church is okay with me.\n\nWith love in Christ.