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Originally Posted by undercoverbrother
Good hopefully soon they will be complete non-existent.
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I think it will eventually, at least in its current form. It's just a matter of what replaces it.
There has actually been dialogue about Anglican-Catholic unification. The two Churches have a joint committee to see how they can make that happen. This is the direction European and North American Catholics would go. When it comes to fundamental beliefs, the two are actually pretty compatible. The Anglicans are just more liberal on the peripheral issues which is the direction most Western Catholics want to go anyway.
But there has also been dialogue recently about re-unifying Catholics and Orthodoxy. The head Patriarch in Constantinople (yes, they still call it that), has said publicly that he thinks it is inevitable that the two join. This would appeal to the conservative members more so in conservative places like Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East where Christianity is quickly dying out in favour of Islam. I could totally see the Catholic Church breaking up.
It could hold out in Latin America and maybe Philippines, although Islam is catching on in those regions too.
The demise, or radical change in the structure of of the Catholic Church wouldn't just be a religious change, but it would have huge geopolitical implications too. Whether that is better or worse in the long run, it's impossible to say. It just depends on what fills the vacuum I guess. We're talking about a process not likely to happen soon, but it could be something our children and grandchildren see.