This depends very much on "whose truth" you are gaining your information from regarding the Catholic church Russ.

I realise you are not setting out to offend "me" personally. But let us not forget, as well informed as you are biblically, you may not be as well informed enough about the Catholic teachings to make judgement calls. And that is where the problem maybe. I am not disputing your biblical knowledge Russ, you'd wipe the floor with me I'm sure. But I encourage people to make sure they get their information from BOTH sources, before making statements, or they may, in the end, be making assumptions and false accusations. You have one solid source, the bible. But in order to use the bible as a testing rod for the Catholic church and teachings, you must also have the Catholic Catechism as the next source for your information. Having one without the other sets anybody up for misinformation/misrepresentations, even if they mean well.
Even the most "informed" and well-meaning wise individual is tainted by human error/sin and is, unfortunately, limited.

If I sat here and saw a picture of an inverted cross and the satanic reference, which is totally contrary to the Catholic church's meaning, do you think it would be a good thing for me to remain silent? Or do you think that as a Catholic myself, I ought to give OUR reasons? Surely it is not preferable to you to ignore that and instead base your "evidence" and "study" on anti-catholic propaganda and statements to the contrary?

No Russ, "truth" does not offend me and I have seen that line used on another forum by someone else. If truth offended me, I'd probably walk away from the sobering words throughout the bible, by Christ (as many do) and/or stamp my feet and decide to water it down or twist it into something that makes me feel a lot better about myself (many do that also). This does not mean I am always faithful to the word, nor does it mean I find Christ's truths easy. But He said it and so it is. Regardless of whether my ego handles it or not. So you comments here are incorrect regarding my defense of the Catholic church and totally incorrect regarding myself as a person.

Now, when somebody takes beliefs from somebody's faith out of context and misrepresents them, or uses the Judas's within the Catholic church to label it on a whole, then yes I'll be offended and rightly so. There is most definitely Masons within the church. There is liberalism within the church. Not always easy to catch, not always easy to prove. Does this begin to describe those being faithful to the teachings as being the same? Do we judge Christ by Judas? Anywhere Christ is, the Devil follows. Seeking to undo, distort and tempt. Where best to do the damage if one wishes to undermine? Within the church itself. I have listened to some wonderful, inspiring and faithful priests who put up with the snide, lofty comments of their fellow liberals. Why are these guys made fun of and often despised? because they refuse to bend and compromise and remain faithful to the church's teachings. I thank God for those men. The holy spirit prevails in those who are obedient/faithful, regardless of the attacks of the Devil.

Russ, may I also remind you, you are not the only one that has done extensive study on the bible. This includes the theologians within the Catholic church, (The Pope Himself) and goodness knows how many others, which I dare say, may just outdo you. There is a TV evangelist that has studied the bible so extensivey, that I would challenge you to outdo him also. His name is Jack Van Impe. Wonderful man who has spent his life preaching the word of God. No he's not a Catholic, but he is fully aware of the anti Catholic propaganda and bless him, has exposed it fully on his programme and made some difficult admissions and apologies himself. He holds up the Catholic Catechism on his programme and refers to it often. Why? Because it is fully backed up by scripture the whole way.

Now, if it is about truth, study and evidence, you would be making sure you are well researched enough to get your facts straight and your source's pure. And as I said, unless you have the bible and the Catechism both and have gone through the beliefs and traditions and read the scriptual back-ups and explanations, you are probably not informed.

Let us consider Christ and Saint Peter. It was Christ who instituted the church with Saint Peter appointed to lead the church. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and Christ as the head of the church. They are in fact servants of Christ and stewards, not the "boss" so to speak. He entrusted this first to Saint Peter (we believe the first Pope) and from there, the position of "Pope" continued throughout the ages and up to this day. Papal history can in fact be traced back to Saint Peter Himself.

Please check out this link here which describes it much better than myself. As I personally feel this is a very good and faithful explanation.
Papal infallibility, God's not man's.

The holy spirit leads the church, not man. The corruption within the church throughout the ages, should have brought it down and destroyed it long ago. However, as it is not run by mere "man" and not surprising that it has survived regardless and remained one united church (even with all the internal divisions/arguments). Even though it may walk it's calvary and be attacked from all sides, and may even be crucified and considered dead and gone, Christ promised that even the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.

The Catholic church has been accused of many things, all of which I had heard long before I became a Catholic. I did not see any of these accusations play out amongst the Catholics I had met, nor did I locate it in the Catechism, so for me, I went in with a non judgemental attitude. My journey was personal and wonderful. The Catholic faith and the inspiration of fellow Catholics, were for me, a big part of that. Christ prevails in our church, and everytime I go there, the gospel is the forefront. One cannot stop a person from misrepresenting or misjudging the church, but we can only pass on the Catechism and ask them to read for themselves.

Should I have seen the things it has been falsey accused of within the teachings of the Catechism and foundation of the church? I would not have lasted, nor would I have remained. Judas's do not put me off remaining where I am, regardless of the poison within the church.