As I said to zorba -- the difference is you have the innate right to reform your government, to repudiate what they have said and done. You have the duty and the responsibility to do so, and mechanisms with which to do it.

Catholics can endure doctrine they disagree with, or they can loudly debate it, or they can leave the Catholic church. However, they can't actually reform the church unless their Ecclesiastical Authority chooses to do so. They can't vote the Pope out of office, any more than they had any say in putting him into office. But as he is the Pope, he speaks for them.

The advantage of Protestantism is the capacity to move parishes or even denominations when doctrine becomes offensive or immoral. And when a Protestant leader -- even at the head of a given convention -- pushes beyond what the flock will endure, there are inevitably means to remove them and start over. The Catholics have no such luxury.

It is a damnable position to be in, but it's one no one but they can resolve.