I'm not sure most people really know what "Protestant" means anymore.
When people speak of the "two major branches" of Christianity, they're usually referring to
Catholics and Protestants. The
Orthodox church is usually lumped with either Protestants or Catholics, depending on one's religious persuasion (i.e., if you're Catholic, then the Orthodox church is Protestant, but if you're Protestant, then the Orthodox church
looks Catholic, except their
church leaders can't afford the same colorful robes).
Sorting all Christians as we do into two basic groups, people have assumed that Protestants are just Christians who are not Catholic. That is, they are Christians who are permitted the use of
birth control and are not expected to go to
confession, count
Rosary beads or use the term "father" for any man other than the one who raised them.
Protestants, however, are
not merely non-Catholics. A Protestant is one who
protests. Try this simple exercise. Pronounce the word "Protestant" in such a way as to sound similar to "persistent" or "contestant." Say,
"pro-TEST-ant."
In other words, a Protestant is a "pro-TEST-ant" (lowercase "p") – a Christian who
protests the authority of the Catholic church. In fact, protestants have been protesting for five hundred years (and it appears we're not giving up any time soon). You can read about it
HERE, but the primary protests through history against the Catholic church (not the Catholic
people) have involved
abuse of power,
religion of fear,
questionable theology,
unaccountability,
ecclesiastical arrogance,
misuse of the financial contributions of millions of
poor Catholics and many other issues.
THE POPE
With most protestants (i.e.,
pro-TEST-ants) I know, one of the primary protests concerns the Pope. The Pope may be just the kind of person you'd enjoy at dinner, chatting about international politics and classics of world literature, but it is not the person of the Pope that rankles us so -- it is the office.
It is all the
pomp and circumstance of
red velvet, white silk and gold-braided trim. It is
the gilded throne upon which he sits and the
opulence that surrounds the Vatican complex in Rome and extends to the all the
silver and gold and Italian marble in all the
Catholic cathedrals around the
globe while
innumberable Catholics themselves are malnourished and without shelter in developing countries that are too poverty-stricken to have a voice. This is what we protest, and we understand that many
loyal Catholics have similar protests.
An important seed of the Protestant movement was planted when a German Catholic priest by the name of
Martin Luther made a pilgrimage to the holy city of Rome. It was there that he saw the
overindulgence of wealth on the part of the Catholic hierarchy, the lavishly luxurious buildings paid for by the continual flow of sacrificial contributions of poorer Catholics who gave what they could to
buy their souls out of the fires of purgatory, as well as the
souls of their loved ones. Gratefully, the theology of indulgences has faded into history, but the palatial memorials to Catholic power still remain, and this in the name of One who
did not claim a pillow to lay his head.
We must not fail to recognize that the
Catholic church does much for poverty-stricken people, but when critics see the gilded wealth of the papacy and the jewell-encrusted edifices worldwide it appears there is some kind of vast disconnect between the Vatican and the world's poorest. Nor should we fail to recognize that these are not merely Protestant concerns, but that
Catholics worldwide are also
pleading for change and accountability.
JOSEPH ALOIS RATZINGER
Mr. Ratzinger is retiring, and I don't blame him. More commonly known as
Pope Benedict XVI, his parents had named him
Joseph Alois Ratzinger. He has served the Catholic church since 1951 (elected Pope in 2005), and after
serious health concerns and waning strength, he considers it time to step aside and let someone else lead the global Catholic faith.
I truly wish him well. I have no problem with Mr. Ratzinger personally -- he seems to be a pleasant elderly German gentleman, and probably a capable leader to have achieved such a status. The concerns of most protestants is in how the man is
revered (some would say "worshiped") by millions who seem to equate a loyalty to the Pope with loyalty to God himself. Protestants have difficulty with the
luxuriantly royal treatment given a man who calls himself a "
servant of Christ."
I still recall his
visit to the US in April of 2008, and how he was greeted by our
own President and the first family, as Catholic bishops, archbishops and
cardinals paraded about in their finest red and
white garments, trimmed in gold
– clothing fit for the angels themselves. Every major news outlet covered his arrival. Switch from CNN to MSNBC to CBS to FOX NEWS to ABC and all one would see is the white robed and bejewelled,
golden-crowned man sitting upon a
throne with an approving smile as
thousands of devotees paraded by and sang in his honor.
A twenty-one gun salute, a
US military band in colorful eighteenth century costume, marching in perfect formation,
with children waving "papal flags" like loyal patriots proudly flying their nations' colors to their national leader – this was his official American welcome.
Catholics from all fifty states came to gaze at him, sing to him, play music for him or just catch a glimpse of him as he passed by in his shiny motorcade of black limousines.
JESUS AND THE POPE: COMPARING CROWNS
Watching the
Pope on parade, I couldn't help but reflect on an event that happened 2000 years ago. There were indeed more luxurious forms of transportation available to Christ, but it was a
humble, smelly donkey that Jesus used to enter Jerusalem for his royal arrival, his
followers waving palm branches, shouting, "
Hosanna to the King of Kings."
The only time Jesus wore the trappings of royalty is when cold-hearted executioners
draped a scarlet robe upon his bleeding back and shoved a crown of thorns onto his scalp as they sarcastically cried, "
Hail, king of the Jews," spitting upon him and beating him about the head. Christ did not seek pompous apparel, impressing audiences with an artificially regal appearance. Quite the opposite. As the prophet Isaiah has said,
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2).
The Pope, according to Catholic tradition, is the "
Head of the Church," "Successor of the Prince of the Apostles," "Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church" and (the titles most offensive to protestant Christians) "
His Holiness" and "
Holy Father" (see
Matt 6:9 and 23:9). Protestants will never understand
the exalted titles given to a man who claims to represent the One who is "gentle and humble in heart" (Matt 11:29), the One who
"did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Phil 2:6-7).
And though Christ clearly said, "
My kingdom is not of this world," the Pope, however, is considered the sovereign leader of
"the Vatican" – a separate Catholic city-state, a nation with it's
own laws, complex government, police force, national budget and foreign ambassadors.
I do indeed wish Mr. Ratzinger a happy retirement, and I believe it is due him. However, what Protestants would most like to see is the office of the Pope itself retired, and
the wealth of the Catholic church be used for
the people of the church –
not the hierarchy.
Jesus said, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12).
NOTE: Despite my "protests" with the office of the papacy and points of Catholic theology, I dearly love and respect all my Catholic friends, whose friendship I have always cherished.
As I searched for other literary treasures, a father walked in bringing four loud and disheveled children into the store. The oldest was a boy of about fourteen with curly blond hair and a foul mouth, spilling coarse words and insults in every aisle. His sister, about twelve, was making animal noises – loudly. 
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