re: The Pope

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how someone chosen by other people is supposed to be the chosen path to god?

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Well, if this is what you think he is, then it's understandable that you don't understand why people hold him in high regard. However, not even the church which elected him believes him to be the chosen path to God.

As you said yourself, this is a discussion board. As you grow up, you'll likely find that informed discussion from two people with differing views on the same topic which they both know a fair amount on is far more stimulating than an attempt at a discussion where either one or neither party is informed. In this case, you don't have very much of a base from which to discuss the topic. I'll try to fill it in a little, but keep in mind, this is the understanding of a stranger from the internet rather than a more direct source, which is readily available in the world you're growing up in- it wasn't quite like that for us, but that's a different story.

The Catholic Church claims to be founded by Jesus Christ, who is regarded as the Son of God. Jesus, Himself, named His chief follower, Peter, the head of the church which He founded. He didn't name Peter "The Next Jesus," or anything like that, He simply entrusted the care of the organization He founded to Peter. The Church, then, goes on for approximately 2000 years, with leader after leader appointed by only the most well regarded members of the church itself. So today, you have Francis, who is basically the chief representative of the organization he's dedicated his life to, which is some 2000 years old. While controversy has definitely arisen, the organization still stands today with, what they believe, are the views of the original founder, Christ. Being named the head of a 2000 year old organization is a pretty big deal from a "notable person" standpoint. And that's pretty much all the rest of the world agrees to view Pope Francis as. It's similar to being the Dali Llama- a figurehead for the organization. He's not infallible (Papal Infallibility is a topic you should read on your own time, but in short, he can simply invoke that he's infallible on a statement. It's not a joking matter, and it's not something that's been abused or even frequently used. And most recently in 1950 or so to declare that the mother of Jesus, the founder of the church, didn't actually die but was assumed straight into Heaven. In other words, it's not taken lightly, it's not about trivial matters, and it's not applicable to him or his everyday speech).

Now, if you can't grasp that the figurehead of an old, old organization which is particularly noted for its charity and being of generally good acts toward others as well as instilling good values to all would be a person with some high level of notoriety in the world, approximately akin to a world leader of a country or, at the very least, a big-time celebrity, then we seem to have a disagreement which makes productive conversation a rather cumbersome if not worthless exercise.