re: I Hope All Faithful Catholics Will Join Me In Prayer That When Pope Francis is Called Home

Let us not forget that sola scriptura is a false, unhistoric, and self-defeating doctrine.

Therefore, we can appeal to sources outside of scripture to see how the earliest Christians interpreted scripture passages.

The Didache was one of the most widely circulated documents in the 1st century, moreso than many of the NT epistles. It even predates many of the NT epistles. It was accepted as the first Catechism by most in the early church. In reference to confession, it states the following:

“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).

Most of the non-gospel NT epistles were written to address bad or heretical practices that were creeping into the 1st century churches, such as those things being taught by the gnostics, judaizers, etc.

Here's what is interesting...the Didache, as one of the most copied and widely circulated documents, is never once addressed by an Apostle.

Not one letter penned against infant baptism, baptism by affusion instead of only immersion, public confession of sins, etc.

Sounds an awful lot like the apostles who were still alive, such as John, didn't feel the need to address these teachings, because they didn't believe them to be false.