Catholics make up more than 22% of the U.S. population. We have seen them harvest a collective vote during elections as well as bring vast changes to their communities.So why are there so many misunderstandings regarding the Catholic Church and the areas that involve it?
We have decided to try and clear up some of these common misconceptions with this list of ten of the most popularly misconstrued issues. They are as follows:
- The Pope is Always Correct: - Roman Catholics believe there are only three circumstances in which the Pope is does not make any errors. These conditions are:
1. The Pope must be making a statement about morals or faith
2. The declaration must be binding by the entire Church
3. The Pope must be speaking with the full authority of the Papacy, and not on a personal level.Basically, this means that when the Pope is speaking on subjects such as science, he can make errors. However, when he is teaching on topics of religion and the other above two conditions have been satisfied, Catholics believe that the statements is equal to the Word of God. There can be no discrepancies in any previous statements made and all Catholics must believe. If a person denies any these serious decrees, they are believed to be committing a mortal sin in which you can be sent to hell for.
- Priest’s can deny baptism to a baby or child of a single parent or a couple not married in the Church: - If the parent or parents, whether single or married, bring the child to the Catholic Church for baptism, the priest must decide according to the Canon Law 868 #2, which is “that there be a well-founded hope that the child will be brought up in the catholic religion.” This is the principle factor for the Priest to decide whether to baptize the child, not the fact that it may be a single parent family, or that the parents were not wed in the Catholic Church.
- Catholics Should Marry Only Catholics : - Catholics have the right to marry the person of their choice, whether non-Christian, Catholic, or Christian, on the basis that the marriage does not endanger their Catholic faith. A Catholic has the right to request the necessary administration needed to marry someone who is not Catholic. Believe it or not, Catholics do feel that religion should always be free, and neither the priest nor significant other should put pressure on the non-Catholic to conform for the sake of the marriage only.
- Catholics pay for Indulgences to have their sins forgiven: - The Catholic Church teaches that there are two punishments when a person sins: One being eternal, which is hell, and the other temporal, which is on earth while you are still alive or purgatory after death. To remove the eternal punishment, Catholics must confess their sins and be forgiven. The temporal punishment still will remain. To remove the temporal punishment Catholics can receive an indulgence. This is considered a type of special of blessing that removes the temporal punishment by performing acts like reading specific prayers or volunteer work.
- If a child in not baptized, they go into limbo after death: - Until recently, this belief was never formally explained by the Catholic Church. Actually, the Catechism of the Catholic Church does not even use the word limbo. It states this: “As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in the funeral rites for them. Indeed the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children… allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without baptism”. So as you can see, it is up to God and his mercy to decide the fate of an unbaptized child.
- The Catholic Church opposes cremation: - The concern of the Catholic Church is the respect for the body of the deceased person, not the act of Cremation itself. It is now an accepted form of care unless it is done with disrespect. However, scattering of ashes is not something the Catholic Church approves of, whether by person or airplane. Again, the issue is the respectful treatment of the person’s remains. Most Churches consider storing the ashes in a memorial type environment instead of keeping them in an urn at home. Cremation was less acceptable in the past because of the misperception of disposing of something that is not wanted. Cremation became an appropriate method of burial for Catholics after the Second Vatican Council in the late 1960s. The Catholic Church does permit it, provided it is not a denial of the person’s possible resurrection.
- Catholics believe that sex was the "original sin" of Adam and Eve: Though many Catholics have believed this in the past and may still believe it here in the present, it is definitely not the official teaching of the Catholic Church. The original sin was one of pretentious disregard of God's commandment, not the act of lust. Pride is the worst sin of all, and the root of all sin. Again, that is not the teaching of Mother Church. The original sin contains the important significance of the sin of Adam, particularly, the absence of pure mercy in the spirit, not the act in where a child’s life was created.
- The Catholic Church disagrees with science and shuns evolution: - This is not the conviction of the Catholic faith despite this popular stereotype. In fact, there have been many considerable scientific advances that have come from Catholic scholars and academics. One engaging reference is that of Monsignor Georges Lemaître . He was a priest from Belgium who suggested the Big Bang theory.
- Catholic Priests can’t get married: - To clarify this one, you will need to have a better comprehension of the principles of the Catholic Church. Within the Central Church there are different sectors, one of the most common ones the Roman Catholic Church. Then you have the Eastern Catholic Church. Both of these sections abide by the authority of the Pope and they practice the same doctrines but small areas such as worship are different. In the Eastern Church, priests can be married but they cannot become a Bishop. Although rare, there are some examples in the Roman Catholic Church in which a pastor who has converted from another religion are able to become priests even though they are married.
- The Catholic Church has added their own books to the Bible: - The Catholic version of the Old Testament differentiates from the Protestant version being that the Catholic edition contains seven more books than Protestant Bibles. These additional books are the cause of people thinking that the Catholic Church added extra books. But in all actuality, these books were held as the official canon (list of books) of Christians until the Protestant transformation during which Martin Luther removed them. A few of these books even have assertions of Catholic teaches that Luther discredited. The justification for the Catholic Church using the Greek edition is that the apostles used it solely in their sermons.
In the Middle ages, forgers would write fake indulgences offering the forgiveness or removal of eternal sins in exchange for money which was used for building the Church. After this practice had been going on for over three centuries, the Popes finally were able to put an end to the sale of indulgences. Real indulgences have existed from the beginning of Christianity and the Church continues to grant special indulgences today.
Also, the Catholic faith does not reject the theory of evolution although they do remain generally quiet about the very first days of the theory. In 2004, a Theological Commission led by Cardinal Ratzinger, released an announcement that said: “According to the widely accepted scientific account, the universe erupted 15 billion years ago in an explosion called the ‘Big Bang’ and has been expanding and cooling ever since. [...] Converging evidence from many studies in the physical and biological sciences furnishes mounting support for some theory of evolution to account for the development and diversification of life on earth, while controversy continues over the pace and mechanisms of evolution.” Catholic Schools around the globe use scientific evolution as part of their curriculum in their science courses.
By reading some of these misconceptions of the Catholic Church, one might be enlightened on the similarities that Catholics have to other religious beliefs.
After all, they do believe in God and Jesus Christ, attend Sunday Mass, and helping others attain redemption, which is the basis of most religious faiths.
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