Victor, I know what the Catholic church practices in some parts of the world. I may not be up on every different congregation's beliefs, but I spent six months living with a missionary in Uruguay who was a Catholic priest in Paraguay for a long time. He taught me Guarani and South American Catholic stuff. I learned how to do Hail Mary's and all the prayers for the Rosary (In Paraguay they do it in "vos", a slightly different type of Spanish). I own a couple of Rosaries from Brasil. They're souvenirs of mine.
The most interesting stuff was what they teach priests. Priests have to read books of scripture from all different faiths. I found that very interesting. In some parts of Central and South America they have red flags hanging in the cathedrals. This is to warn authorities that the leaders of this particular congregation have the authority to kill apostates. I know you don't believe me, but I'm not worried about that.
In all of South America everyone runs around with little Saint playing cards. There's a picture of a saint on one side and a prayer to that saint on the other. When people are in specific circumstances they will hold up that card and say the prayer. In many towns there are very famous statues of saints that are frequently visited and given gifts. In a town in Uruguay called Florida (flohr-EE-dah) there's a Saint that has thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gifts around it. There are other statues of this saint, but this one apparently has special powers, and people leave everything from jewelry to cars in front of it to thank it and petition blessings. In Brasil they chuck perfume and jewelry into the ocean to seek blessings from some saint that died in the ocean or something. The poor people in town then swim out and pick up all the valuable stuff. In Argentina they don't say "Thank God" or "Thank the Lord," they say "Thank the Virgin" whenever something good happens. I've been in several cathedrals and I often count the different statues in them. I have yet to find a Catholic church that had as many images of Christ as of Mary. The Christ statues all show Him bleeding and dying helplessly while the Mary statues show her looking upon Him with sympathy and a slight smile, as if to say, "Don't worry, it's gonna be ok."
These are all things that I've seen with my own two eyes over and over again. I am well acquainted with the Catholic church and their history. I watched and studied the Conclave with much interest and have read their own writings just as much as the writings of others about them.
The Catholic church has placed human beings in between Jesus and us, despite the Bible's expressed prohibition. They have explained it to me on numerous occasions in the following manner, "We don't worship the Saints, but we worship God through the Saints." This is exactly what the Israelites did in Horeb.
The most interesting stuff was what they teach priests. Priests have to read books of scripture from all different faiths. I found that very interesting. In some parts of Central and South America they have red flags hanging in the cathedrals. This is to warn authorities that the leaders of this particular congregation have the authority to kill apostates. I know you don't believe me, but I'm not worried about that.
In all of South America everyone runs around with little Saint playing cards. There's a picture of a saint on one side and a prayer to that saint on the other. When people are in specific circumstances they will hold up that card and say the prayer. In many towns there are very famous statues of saints that are frequently visited and given gifts. In a town in Uruguay called Florida (flohr-EE-dah) there's a Saint that has thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gifts around it. There are other statues of this saint, but this one apparently has special powers, and people leave everything from jewelry to cars in front of it to thank it and petition blessings. In Brasil they chuck perfume and jewelry into the ocean to seek blessings from some saint that died in the ocean or something. The poor people in town then swim out and pick up all the valuable stuff. In Argentina they don't say "Thank God" or "Thank the Lord," they say "Thank the Virgin" whenever something good happens. I've been in several cathedrals and I often count the different statues in them. I have yet to find a Catholic church that had as many images of Christ as of Mary. The Christ statues all show Him bleeding and dying helplessly while the Mary statues show her looking upon Him with sympathy and a slight smile, as if to say, "Don't worry, it's gonna be ok."
These are all things that I've seen with my own two eyes over and over again. I am well acquainted with the Catholic church and their history. I watched and studied the Conclave with much interest and have read their own writings just as much as the writings of others about them.
The Catholic church has placed human beings in between Jesus and us, despite the Bible's expressed prohibition. They have explained it to me on numerous occasions in the following manner, "We don't worship the Saints, but we worship God through the Saints." This is exactly what the Israelites did in Horeb.
