Though I am not Catholic (I'm Catholic "Lite," Episcopalian), my husband is, and I have great respect for the Catholic church.
Because IMO, Catholics are like our parents, and Jews are like our grandparents - without them, there would be no us 😊
We may not always agree - but we do need to acknowledge that if it were not for them, the rest of us as Christians wouldn't even exist. 😊
Thus, IMO, these faiths are to be respected and revered for this exact reason - just like we do our parents and our grandparents.
(Notice I didn't say canonized into sainthood or that we should deify them or turn a blind eye to true wrongdoing - but there's a difference between people just interpreting scripture/believing differently and true wrongdoing.😉)
Regardless, I watched this mass out of that respect for this changing of the guard, the pomp and tradition of it all. I admit, I love the "high church" pageantry of it all - plus his first mass was at the Sistine Chapel!💓
Interestingly, he focused on Peter being considered the first Pope, the "rock" upon which the church would be built. I find this interesting for two reasons:
The first is, for those unaware, this is one of the major aspects on which Catholics and Protestants disagree, basing their differing beliefs on this passage from Matthew 16:13-18:
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Protestants instead believe that Christ meant Peter's answer, his stated belief that Christ was the son of God, is the rock upon which the church is built - not Peter himself.
Regardless, the Catholic church, in the end, was built on both - the first formally recognized Christian church (St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City in 519 AD), professing Jesus as the son of God - was supposedly literally build built on Peter's remains!
Both things can be true, fellow Christians.
So often in the Christian faith - unlike other faiths like Buddhism - everything is so black or white, so either/or - there is no room for "the middle way," no gray areas, and there is definitely no room for both.
That is not to say that Christ himself was like that.
Jesus definitely allowed for gray areas, as most intelligent people recognize things aren't usually that simple.
In fact, Christ even directly defied church law over it many times, if the law wasn't based on loving thy neighbor and mercy.
However, unfortunately, Christianity itself - does not.
Regardless of what you believe, or don't believe, the result is the same - the first formal, organized Christian church recognizing Christ as the son of God was supposedly literally built on Peter's remains!😊
And what is most important is Christ's message of love, compassion, mercy , forgiveness, and giving people multiple chances managed to survive all the bible edits/translations, all the church politics, all the greed, all the grasps for power and need for control.
The second and bigger reason I found his focus on Peter interesting is because how many times the gospels told us that Peter messed up, even after being a disciple 😂
(In fact, I think this contributes to the Protestant belief that Christ could not have possibly really meant Peter as "the rock." )
For starters, he didn't write his own gospel like other disciples, just later books in the New Testament. (If he did write a gospel, it has been lost to history).
Also, when trying to protect Jesus, hot-headed Peter drew his sword and cut off a centurion's ear in the Garden of Gethsemane, trying to protect Christ from arrest. Christ not only healed the centurion (which also saved Peter's behind), but also said to him "Those who live by the sword will die by it" - another phrase modern Christians seem to forget (only it's not swords today, it's guns.)
And later, Peter famously denied Christ 3 times, as Christ predicted he would (only later to to say he loved him 3 times upon his resurrection).
Regardless, in the end, the first church was built on both Peter's belief that Christ is the son of God AND Peter himself - literally!
To his credit, Pope Leo stated that he viewed himself not as the voice of God or a rock, but as the administrator of the son of God's living words, as we continually interpret them - a very diplomatic way to state this 😊
Now - keep in mind, I'm saying this today, myself having really struggled in my faith, especially since my friend, Marian, was killed by a drunk driver.
Also because my fellow Christians today have astonishing started followed politics that seem opposite to Christ's message to me.
And this paranoid, insecure need for Christian control, Christian nationalism in my own country and others, mistaking criticism of them for greedy, selfish, controlling choices they're making in Christ's name, as "persecution" justification to take religious choice/freedom away and negate free will.
And they talk about the power of Satan, fear, anger, loss of their own elite status more than they talk about the mercy, love, and forgiveness of Christ!
It just disturbs my soul and confuses me - it's hard to hear the real Christ I learned about in any of it.
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