The Vatican reissued statements yesterday proclaiming that all non-Roman Catholic churches are not true churches of Jesus Christ, and specifically pointed to Protestant denominations as being a particular problem.  The main reason behind these views is the lack of recognition in the primacy of the Pope by other denominations.  As a member of a Protestant religion I should probably be extremely offended by these statements, but instead they just reaffirm my decision to practice a form of Christianity outside of the Roman Catholic Church.  

Here is a group of people essentially calling me a heathen because I do not believe in their made up set of rules declaring a man the infallible ruler of Christianity.  I read the Bible and nowhere did I see something to the effect of “thou shall honor the Pope”, or even Jesus acknowledging an infallible ruler of his word.  I have no intentions of being part of a group that does not respect or tolerate even slight differences in belief.  My faith cannot and will not be strengthened by recognizing the primacy in the Pope, and is no weaker than someone else who does recognize the primacy of the Pope.

What bothers me the most about the Vatican is the way many high ranking officials spend their time.  They have been given a platform on the world stage to preach peace and goodwill towards man (all those Christian ideals).  Instead of leading by example they dredge up petty differences time and time again provoking unnecessary controversy which as history has shown have lead to some of the worlds greatest atrocities.  They do not reach out to the people they have the ability to speak to, but rather exclude everyone who does not fall exactly within their line.

Just for some additional background information on where I am coming from, I attended a Catholic Church for a couple years that I found to be a meaningful experience most of the time.  The Church was packed every week with college students throughout the Boston area, a truly amazing feat in and of itself.  You would be very hard pressed to find any church drawing a substantial crowd of 18-25 year olds anywhere in the United States.  The unfortunate side effect of having such a young congregation is that they do not have the means to give a sufficient monetary offering.  The Roman Catholic Church would not support a money losing yet successful and important ministry and shut down the Church a couple years ago.  This is just another example among a laundry list of how the Roman Catholic Church has failed to reach even the people who want to follow.