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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote]The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind. [/quote]

Catholic here. The above is not accurate, because it makes it sound like Catholics pray to the Pope, and that he in turn prays to God for them. As with other faiths, Catholics pray directly to God. The Pope is considered the spiritual leader of the church, going back to St. Peter. He is not a God or demi-god.

[/quote]

How about confessions? When you confess to the priest, does he intercede for you, if not, what's the idea behind it?[/quote]

the priest is god's representative on earth because he's taken vows and received advanced theological training.

Only saints can intercede with god.  Some people prefer to[b] pray to a saint[/b], who then takes the request to god.  Other prefer to pray straight to god.  There's no evidence to show if either system works better.[/quote]

Who determines who the saints are? Were they all from Jesus' time or can you have new ones?[/quote]

There are new saints all the time. To become a saint, first you have to die - then it has to be proven that someone who prayed to you had their prayers answered.(e.g. cancer was cured without  medical intervention)  They are nominated by the Cardinals and go through a vetting process before becoming saints.  Once you're a saint, then lots of other people pray to you too.[/quote]

That's an interesting concept. But how can you "prove" that the prayers got answered? Is this just for the Catholic Church and if so, does it get vetted at the Vatican? Because let's say someone in a remote village wants to nominate someone, how would the other Cardinals find out? My other question is, if there are new ones all the time, how do you keep up or know which one to pray to?[/quote]

Some people pray to the saint they're named after.  I think that's why so many Catholic girls are named Mary or Maria -- so they'll have Mary to pray to, who has a special place in heaven as God's mother.  Catholics believe she was bodily assumed into heaven, like Jesus.  But you can pray to whatever saint you want to - whoever seems most appealing to you.  There are books of all the saints, but some saint are more well known than others - like  St Anthony, who is the saint of lost items. For instance if you lose your contact lens and pray to St Anthony, some people believe their prayer to him is why you find the lens.

There are also patron saints who guard over certain cities.  For instance, St. Genevieve protects Paris.

As for proving a prayer has been answered,  they have doctors examine a person who claims to be cured after having been prayed for in the name of the dead person and if they can't find a medical explanation for the recovery, they assume the dead person is responsible, so therefore has special powers given by god and deserves to be a saint.[/quote]

A point of clarity -- the dead person who is being considered for sainthood must be recognized as having performed a miracle here on earth.   Curing a terminally ill person is an example of that - but the Catholic church must be convinced that the cure really was a miracle -- the result of prayers to the dead person, who then successfully interceded with god for the cure -- and not just a result of human medical intervention.  It has to be supernatural, not just natural.[/quote]

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