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True, but Catholicism isn't a democracy. Catholic beliefs aren't determined by what self-professed Catholics say they believe in, but what the Catholic Church

• rsynnott 4y ago
  I mean, that's one way to look at it. But in practice Catholics aren't, and never have been, a monolith, belief-wise, unless you define it so narrowly that the only Catholics are, well, maybe some of the cardinals. (Or not even those, if you take the view of some post-Vatican-II breakaway sects who consider the Pope to be illegitimate)
  • antognini 4y ago
    That's true, there is a great deal of theological diversity within the Catholic Church, and to an extent that diversity is actually encouraged. But the Church also sets bounds on what beliefs can acceptably be called "Catholic" and those bounds are Catholic dogma. (And over the centuries theologians have actually constructed quite a baroque hierarchy of degrees of theological certainty attached to various beliefs. [1]) The actual dogmas are fairly narrow. They include things like the doctrine of transubstantiation, Jesus being both God and man, Mary being conceived without original sin. But a lot of other things aren't dogmatic. For example, it's perfectly acceptable to argue that Roman Catholic priests should be permitted to be married or that Limbo doesn't exist. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_notes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_notes
• olddustytrail 4y ago
  Self-professed Catholics are the Catholic church. That's what's meant by the phrase, not the bishops.