Seven Myths about Catholicism
by Olivia Rzadkiewicz
Have you ever wondered what your non-Catholic friends think of your faith? For people who haven’t experienced church life, or who haven’t been exposed to any religion, the Catholic Church must be quite confusing- we have mysterious rites, priests and clergy of all ranks wearing different clothes depending on who they are and what they do, and we have miracles and Mary, and the saints and all our statues and rosary beads. Stepping into a Catholic Church is a feast for the senses. Little wonder, then, that people are so intrigued.
I remember when I lived in Paris for my year abroad, seeing hundreds of tourists queuing to get into the churches mentioned in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. They were no doubt hoping to see for themselves some evidence of the secretive and strange, goddess-worshipping cabal depicted in the book as the Catholic Church. Though they would have been disappointed on that front, I hope that instead they encountered something of Christ’s love – He who is the way, the truth and the life. Here are seven commonly-heard myths surrounding the Catholic faith.
1. The Pope is always right
This myth centres around the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. This is not to be confused with impeccability, or the inability to sin. Like every other human on earth, the Pope is a sinner. Pope Francis even said on a trip to Mozambique in 2019: “I am and I remain a sinner. That’s why I confess every two weeks.”
Papal Infallibility means, however, that a belief held since the early church by Christians can be formally pronounced and defined by a Pope, by virtue of his office as supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful.
There are four necessary conditions for a pronouncement of the pontifical Magisterium to be infallible:
i ) that the Pope speaks as universal Doctor and Shepherd
ii) that he uses the fullness of his apostolic authority
iii) that he expresses the will to define
iv) that the matters defined deal with faith or morals
Any pronouncement that does not meet these four criteria is not immune from error. Of course, these four conditions are not met in most of the words spoken by Popes in their daily lives.
The Constitution Pastor Aeternus establishes the limits of papal infallibility: “The Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles.”
2. The Catholic Church hates gay people
This one is simply wrong. The Church does not hate any group of people. Jesus commanded us to love everyone, including our enemies. That kind of radical love has no room for hatred. The Catechism of the Catholic Church holds that gay and lesbian people “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.” The Church makes a distinction between sexual orientation and homosexual lifestyle, however. See myth 3 for how the Church views sexuality.
3. The Church is against sex
The Church is not against sex. In fact, it affirms that sex is good, because God blesses humanity’s sexuality on the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1:28, by saying: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” Indeed, the Song of Songs is full of the joy of sex between a man and his wife, illustrating and reflecting the love Christ has for His Church.
The Church does not merely see sex as an act between two people who feel physical attraction. Instead, the Church acknowledges the deep purpose for sexuality as willed by God in the beginning– that it be expressed solely within marriage between a man and a woman who have given their whole selves unreservedly to one another so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. The act of lovemaking is both procreative and unitive, reinforcing the permanency of the marriage vows the couple made on their wedding day- it’s hugely romantic. The Church’s view of sex is mistakenly seen as restrictive, but in fact, in upholding God’s design, in fact it shows us the path to life lived in the greatest freedom.
The Church does, however, care about everyone’s salvation and gently leads all people away from sin and towards a closer relationship with God through the sacrament of reconciliation. That includes everyone – straight, gay, married, single, parent, priest… everyone. Sexuality falls within the areas of sin that the Church cares about, because God created sexuality for a purpose that would be of most benefit to us on our journey through life towards unity with Him in Heaven. For this reason, all sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual, outside of the covenant of the sacrament of marriage is considered a sin against God, because it is rejecting God’s original will and purpose in his design for humanity.
4. The Church is misogynistic
Because the Church does not allow women to be priests, some people misinterpret the Church’s stance as being misogynistic. It could not be further from the truth. Women, according to the Church, were created equal to men in value in God’s eyes. They were, however, created differently with different strengths and skills. Men and women were made to complement each other and to be partners on an equal footing- which is why Eve was made from Adam’s rib – his side. Indeed, humanity’s destiny was redeemed and secured for all time by the ‘yes’ of one young woman to God – Mary- 2000 years ago.
The Church must follow Christ’s pattern and example, even when it doesn’t fit in with our modern secular standards. Christ did not ordain women as priests or as apostles, yet had he wanted to, he had the perfect candidate in Mary. Some people argue that Jesus was just acting within the societal norms of his time, however Jesus regularly turned societal expectations upside down, such as when he washed his disciples’ feet, or performed healing miracles on the Sabbath.
The closing message of the Second Vatican Council declares:
"The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling."
Pope John Paul II comprehensively affirmed the role of women in his 1988 apostolic letter, Mulieris Dignitatem (On the Dignity of Women). He wrote: “Therefore the Church gives thanks for each and every woman: for mothers, for sisters, for wives; for women consecrated to God in virginity; for women dedicated to the many human beings who await the gratuitous love of another person; for women who watch over the human persons in the family, which is the fundamental sign of the human community; for women who work professionally, and who at times are burdened by a great social responsibility…
“The Church gives thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine "genius" which have appeared in the course of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations; she gives thanks for all the charisms which the Holy Spirit distributes to women in the history of the People of God, for all the victories which she owes to their faith, hope and charity: she gives thanks for all the fruits of feminine holiness.”[.2]
5. Catholics aren’t bible-believing Christians
On the contrary, Catholics are heartily encouraged to read and pray with the Bible. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
“The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (CCC 133)
Indeed, every time we attend Mass, we are fed from two tables – the table of Scripture and the table of the Eucharist. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI commented in his 2007 post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, “The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and mission of Church,”:
“First of all, there is a need to reflect on the inherent unity of the rite of Mass. Both in catechesis and in the actual manner of celebration, one must avoid giving the impression that the two parts of the rite are merely juxtaposed. The liturgy of the word and the Eucharistic liturgy, with the rites of introduction and conclusion, ‘are so closely interconnected that they form but one single act of worship.’ There is an intrinsic bond between the word of God and the Eucharist. From listening to the word of God, faith is born or strengthened (cf. Rom 10:17); in the Eucharist the Word made flesh gives himself to us as our spiritual food. Thus, ‘from the two tables of the word of God and the Body of Christ, the Church receives and gives to the faithful the bread of life.’ Consequently it must constantly be kept in mind that the word of God, read and proclaimed by the Church in the liturgy, leads to the Eucharist as to its own connatural end.”
6. Catholics worship Mary
The Church’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin dates back to the very first believers. The Catechism states that “although it is ‘very special’, Marian devotion ‘differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit’.” It goes on to say that “prayer to the Blessed Mother of God always remains centred ‘on the person of Christ manifested in his mysteries’. All that we believe about Mary is based on our faith in Christ”.
Mary was given a special role in God’s plan of redemption. She is seen as the New Eve, preserved from original sin and set apart from all sin by divine grace. The Catechism makes clear: “But this privilege does not place the Virgin outside the universal sphere of redemption. Mary has received all that she is from Christ. She is the first to be redeemed by the blood of the cross.”
A simple way of understanding believers’ relationship with Mary is one of imitation – we seek to imitate her openness to and acceptance of God’s will in our lives. In turn, she, as the Queen Mother of Christ’s Kingdom, hears our petitions and presents them to Jesus, in the same way that she asked Jesus to provide wine at the wedding at Cana.
7. Catholics think they can pay their way into Heaven
Famously, the Augustinian monk and teacher, Martin Luther, launched an attack on what he saw as corruption within the Church. One of his concerns was the sale and abuse of indulgences.
The Council of Trent condemned “all base gain for securing indulgences” in 1563, and Pope Pius V abolished the sale of indulgences in 1567.
The Catechism explains that an indulgence is: “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.”
This is based on the understanding that every sin, by its very nature, rather than as an act of God’s vengeance, has a double consequence. Grave sin separates us from communion with God, making us incapable of eternal life. This separation is called the ‘eternal punishment’ of sin. On the other hand, every sin has ‘temporal’ consequences which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in Purgatory.
Jesus’ work on the cross, as well as every spiritual good of the saints, make up ‘the Church’s treasury’. In Matthew 18:18, Jesus granted St Peter and the Church the authority to bind and loose in Heaven what is bound and loosed on earth. The Church uses this authority to administer the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to individual Christians in remission of the temporal punishments due for their sins. Because the Church’s aim is to see believers come to full holiness, it does not simply give this gift away but spurs the faithful on to do works of devotion, penance and charity which build the individual’s holiness and draw them closer to God.
It may be helpful to think of indulgences as the following interaction between a naughty child and a loving parent. The child is very sorry for having been naughty, and asks the parent’s forgiveness. The parent forgives the child immediately, but nevertheless wants the child to understand that bad actions have bad consequences so grounds the child for a week. The child is desperately sorry for upsetting the parent and for being naughty so sets about trying to make amends by being very good. The parent’s desire to show the child how to be good has been fulfilled, so the parent decides to curtail the grounding half way through the week, because it is clear the child has understood the wrong, was genuinely sorry and has grown from the experience.