I knew it was rare as hell, but thanks for the information.
While it's true that the Pope's word is not as absolute divine truth, the fact remains that the Church is still considered infallable and anything decided by a church council is to be considered God's Word.
Which is the main reason why I am not Catholic. I don't think a bunch of old guys in robes have any authority to interpret the actions of the divine. Also anything I've done wrong is exclusively between me and God. An old pedophile in a booth has no business being involved..
There's good priests, there's bad priests. There's good bishops, there's bad bishops. There's good cardinals, there's bad cardinals. There's good popes, and there's 1500s popes. Though the Church has rewritten old rules and overturned old councils with new decisions. I've never been told the church is infallible when it comes to councils and the like. I think that's the point of tradition, to allow changes due to changing world.
I think Catholics stand somewhere between conservative protestants and liberal ones. I don't know enough about orthodoxy to make a comment on their position, but I hear they tend to be more liberal than most evanglicals.