"How Can I Defend the Papacy?" (The Patrick Madrid Show)

So, on The Patrick Madrid Show, Jodi from Las Vegas calls in with a burning question about defending the papacy. She's been chatting with her Protestant friend, and he kept throwing objections about the Catholic Church, especially about the papacy. You know, the classic stuff like, "Peter wasn’t really the rock," "The Catholic Church isn’t the true Church," and so on. Jodi, trying to keep her cool, said something like, "If you’re looking for the real Church that Jesus started, shouldn’t it at least be 2,000 years old?" 💡 Nice!   So, Jodi asks Patrick, "Can we trace all the popes back to St. Peter?" Patrick explains that there’s a well-documented list of popes stretching all the way back to St. Peter. You could literally just hop on Wikipedia (or a more professional resource like the Catholic Encyclopedia) and check it out. 📚   Patrick then briefly mentions some of the common objections about the papacy that Jodi’s probably facing. Stuff like, "Oh, Peter was just a pebble, not the rock," or "What about those bad popes?" He’s heard it all! Yet, he reassures her that these arguments are easy to refute, especially with facts from Scripture and history. He even wrote a whole book on it called Pope Fiction, which tackles 30 of the most common myths about the papacy. 📖   Long story short, Patrick’s advice to Jodi? Get the facts straight, whether from his book, online resources, or history, and the arguments will crumble. As Patrick says, if her friend really wants to know the truth, well, there's 2,000 years of Church history waiting for him to explore.     The best way to listen to the Best of the Week is on our #1 Free Catholic App. It’s free and always will be! To get and share the Relevant Radio app, check it out here.