Welcome to the Church Teaching section of Catholics Come Home. Here we will provide you with answers to your questions about Catholicism and with tools to help you explore the beautiful and timeless teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church has been devoted to spreading truth since she was founded by Christ 2,000 years ago. The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “It is easy to find truth; it is hard to face it, and harder still to follow it.” Pray that Christ will lead you to find truth, and that your heart will be open to the truth wherever you may find it.
Within each topic, you will find common questions asked by Catholics and non-Catholics about certain Catholic beliefs. After reading through the explanations we have provided, take time to learn more by using the many links we have provided in each section.
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Your Questions About Catholicism | Catholics Come Home
so many questions. ... here is one.
The Catholic church in LATERAN IV calls for the extermination of heretics.
In the case of Saint Bartholomew's day massacre we find the Pope celebrating with a Te Deim
St. Batholomew's Day Massacre
In recent years Pope Francis apologized to the Waldenses - but the extermination decree of Lateran IV is in theory infallible since that was an ecumenical council.
Question: Doesn't that apology invalidate the Catholic doctrine on infallibility?
Question: Of all the examples in the NT where Apostles are confronting heresy and error (as in the book of Jude and 2 John..., Titus 1, 3 John, 1 Corin etc) which of those examples use the "physically exterminate heretics from your nation" solution rather than simply having a better Bible argument ?
Question: would the Catholic church consider all those kinds of "St Bartholomew's day Massacre" events of history to be "crimes against humanity" if committed today?
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Here is another one..
There were a number of times when multiple people were Pope at the same time.. at the time of Martin Luther - at one point there were 3 papal lines all setup by basically the same group of Cardinals and each Pope had a successor, and apparently they all had papal armies, appointed essentially by the same group of cardinals.
Question: What is the "objective" rule that should have been used by the Catholic church at the time so they would know not to follow those papal lines... one vs the other? How were they to know?
How does having Emperor Sigismond decide the issue affect the "successor of Peter" argument?
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Revoking the "Doctrine of Discovery"
The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...7453ee-3831-11e4-a023-1d61f7f31a05_story.html
Nuns to pope: Revoke 15th-century doctrine that allows Christians to seize native land
By Renee K. Gadoua | Religion News Service
September 9, 2014
In November, Sister Maureen Fiedler hand-delivered a letter to Pope Francis’ ambassador in Washington, D.C.,
urging the pontiff to renounce a series of 15th-century church documents ...
a recent resolution by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will spur the pope to
repudiate the centuries-old concept known as the “Doctrine of Discovery.”
“
When I learned about it, I was horrified,” said Fiedler. As a member of the Loretto Community, a congregation of religious women and lay people,
The
Doctrine of Discovery is a
series of papal bulls, or decrees, that gave Christian explorers the right to lay claim to any land that was not inhabited by Christians and was available to be “discovered.” If its inhabitants could be converted, they might be spared.
If not, they could be enslaved or killed."
Question: What would it take for the Catholic Church to declare that as a sin?
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In Mark 7 we find this teaching of Christ
Mark 7
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 Neglecting
the commandment of God, you hold to the
tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at
setting aside the commandment of God in order to
keep your tradition. 10 For
Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; 11
but you say, ‘If a man says to
his father or
his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given
to God),’ 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for
his father or
his mother; 13
thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
Question: What is the crux of the statement Christ is making there and what problem is Christ solving with his teaching? What method is He using?
For example as God He could have used the argument "you are wrong because I say so and anything I say is right.. so there... you are wrong". That would not be very compelling but He could have chosen it. So thankfully He is not using that method. What do you see as the logic/reason in his argument? what is He using according to the Catholic teaching on that principle?
