Expert: Marco - 4/24/2005

Question
Thank you for your previous help.

With the recent election of the Pope, my non-Catholic friends have been bringing up papal history and have been asking about the corrupt popes of the middle ages.  I understand that even though there have been bad Popes, they are still infallible and have never led the Church into error.  The question is, even though they were infallible, why weren't they kicked out anyway and replaced with someone who would lead a good example? Some of these guys were married and had tons of kids.  What is your take on this?  Is there some doctrine, that once a pope is elected, it is for good until he dies?

Also in light of the election, i'm a little confused on what doctrine is.  All the talk about women in the priesthood, married clergy and contraception makes me wonder if these issues are infallible doctrines of the church or if they are just policies that can be changed anytime by a Pope.  

Thanks for your time.

Answer
Dear Lisa,

God has created man with a free-will. God does not take away free-will from any pope, so also a pope can commit sin.
As far as I know, nobody can kick out a pope, because the pope is the maximum authority in the Church; so no bishop or cardinal can cast him away. A pope remains until he dies, or until he choose to resign.

The case of women in priesthood and married clergy are not dogmas; I am not sure about contraception.

The official teacings of the Church are given in the Cathechism; you can find the Catechism on line here:

www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc.html

I do not think it would be correct to give you my personal interpretation of the catechism; I think you should read the paragraphes concerning these issues and interpret yourself those teachings.

I hope this may help,

your brother in Christ,

Marco