Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
You would just call them dissident Catholics.
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No, you might call them that, but I call them hypocrites. Pick and choose what you want to believe, but don't arrogate to yourself a label that you do not qualify for.
Being a Catholic means you accept the ultimate authority of the Pope in matters of doctrine. If you don't accept that, then you have renounced your Catholic faith, regardless of whether YOU think you've done so. And accepting the authority of the Pope means you accept transubstantiation; believe any effective method of birth control is a sin; are certain that you are damned with original sin until properly baptized; etc.
The whole Reformation (and the Orthodox schism) was about whether or not the Pope and the Church was the final authority on matters of faith. If you don't accept that he is, and the Church has everything right, then you are a Protestant, whether or not that's convenient for the modern Church to enforce or yourself to admit.