This article will serve to compile statements from Popes which contradict other declarations of Catholic doctrine, and are not included in the other Catholicism Contradicting Itself articles.
In an interfaith dialogue to young people from multiple religions, Pope Francis warned against saying "(My religion) is the true one, yours is not true":
Pope Francis - Interreligious Meeting with Young People (September 13, 2024)
One of the things that has impressed me most about the young people here is your capacity for interfaith dialogue. This is very important because if you start arguing, "My religion is more important than yours...," or "Mine is the true one, yours is not true....," where does this lead? Somebody answer. [A young person answers, "Destruction".] That is correct. All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine. But God is for everyone, and therefore, we are all God's children. "But my God is more important than yours!". Is this true? There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian. Understood?
Above, he agrees that statements that one's religion is true, and others are false, lead to "destruction".
However, his predecessor, Pope Pius XI (1857-1939 AD), not only made such a statement, but then also attached a threat of damnation to it:
Pope Pius XI - Mortalium Animos (1928)
The Catholic Church is alone in keeping the true worship. This is the fount of truth, this is the house of faith, this is the temple of God: if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation.
Likewise, Pope Pius IX (1792-1878 AD) did more than assert that his religion was true and others were false; he called for all other religions to be prohibited, in favor of a Roman Catholic Church-State:
Pope Pius IX - Quanta Cura (1864 AD), Syllabus of Errors
77 In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship. (Condemned)
78 Hence it has been wisely decided by law, in some Catholic countries, that persons coming to reside therein shall enjoy the public exercise of their own peculiar worship. (Condemned)
There is no context in which Pope Francis's statement can be made to reconcile with these ones, and many others as well - see this article, for instance.
Historically, the Roman Catholic Church has unequivocally classified homosexuality as a "crime":
Council of Vienne (1312 AD)
1 Therefore it was against the Lord Jesus Christ himself that they fell into the sin of impious apostasy, the abominable vice of idolatry, the deadly crime of the Sodomites, and various heresies.
Pope Pius V - Horrendum Illud Scelus (1568 AD)
That horrible crime, for which corrupt and obscene cities were destroyed by fire through divine condemnation, causes us most bitter sorrow and shocks our mind, impelling us to repress such a crime with the greatest possible zeal.
1 Quite opportunely the Fifth Lateran Council [1512-1517] issued this decree: "Let any member of the clergy caught in that vice against nature, given that the wrath of God falls over the sons of perfidy, be removed from the clerical order or forced to do penance in a monastery" (chap. 4, X, V, 31).
2 So that the contagion of such a grave offense may not advance with greater audacity by taking advantage of impunity, which is the greatest incitement to sin, and so as to more severely punish the clerics who are guilty of this nefarious crime and who are not frightened by the death of their souls, we determine that they should be handed over to the severity of the secular authority, which enforces civil law.
3 Therefore, wishing to pursue with greater rigor than we have exerted since the beginning of our pontificate, we establish that any priest or member of the clergy, either secular or regular, who commits such an execrable crime, by force of the present law be deprived of every clerical privilege, of every post, dignity and ecclesiastical benefice, and having been degraded by an ecclesiastical judge, let him be immediately delivered to the secular authority to be put to death, as mandated by law as the fitting punishment for laymen who have sunk into this abyss.
Above, Pope Pius V (1504-1572 AD) issues a Bull to address sodomy, in which he references Romans 1:26-27, calls it a "crime" three times, and demands that all those found guilty of doing it be remanded to the secular authorities, and put to death.
However, Pope Francis, in an interview on January 24, 2023 with the Associated Press, stated:
Pope Francis - Interview with the Associated Press (January 24, 2023)
We are all children of God. And God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us has to fight for our dignity. Being homosexual is not a crime. It's not a crime. "Yes, but it's a sin". Well, yes, but let's make the distinction between sin and crime. But it's also a sin to lack charity with one another, so what about that?
The condemnation of homosexuality goes a long way back. Nowadays, for example, I think that more than fifty countries have legal convictions, and of those I think that ten, more or less, have the death penalty. They don't name it directly, but they say "those who have unnatural behaviors" - they try to say it in a hidden way. But there are countries that have this force or tendency, or at least cultures that have that strong tendency. I think it's unfair. Here in the audience, I actually get groups of people like that.
Every man and every woman must have a window in their lives where they can pour out their hope, and where they can see the dignity of God. Being homosexual is not a crime. It is a human condition.
Above, Pope Francis is commenting on homosexual acts, not orientation, as he says that what he is referring to is "a sin", and is punished with the death penalty in around ten countries. No country punishes orientation, because such a thing is impossible to prove until the act is carried out. Likewise, the Catholic Church does not teach that homosexual urges are of themselves sinful, yet Francis says that what he is referring to is "a sin". Therefore, he is stating that homosexual behavior should not be thought of as a crime, and criminalized, even though it is a sin. He confirmed that this is what he intended in a letter exchange with Outreach, a Catholic LGBT ministry.
He also re-affirmed this teaching during a press conference on February 5, 2023, during which he said the death penalty for homosexuality "is not just":
Pope Francis - In-Flight Press Conference (February 5, 2023)
The criminalization of homosexuality is an issue that must not be disregarded. It is estimated that, more or less fifty countries, in one way or another, lead to this criminalization. Some say more, let's say at least fifty. And some of these - I think it's ten - even have the death penalty, more or less openly. This is not just.
Pope Francis is correct in making the distinction between a sin and a crime - not every sin was criminally punished, under the Law of God. However, homosexuality was criminalized, and punished with death (Leviticus 20:13). This is what Pope Pius V above recommended as punishment.
However, Pope Francis rejects the death penalty entirely, having declared it "inadequate from a moral standpoint" (Fratelli Tutti, 2020 AD). Therefore, as is obvious to everyone with eyes still open to see the truth, Pope Francis has once again contradicted not only his own Church, but also the Word of God - teaching that God's Law was "unfair" for having criminalized homosexuality.
Many times, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his esteem or respect for the false religion of Islam:
Pope Benedict XVI - General Audience (August 24, 2005 AD)
This year is also the 40th anniversary of the conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, which has ushered in a new season of dialogue and spiritual solidarity between Jews and Christians, as well as esteem for the other great religious traditions. Islam occupies a special place among them. Its followers worship the same God and willingly refer to the Patriarch Abraham.
Pope Benedict XVI - Christmas Address (December 22, 2006 AD)
My Visit to Turkey afforded me the opportunity to show also publicly my respect for the Islamic Religion, a respect, moreover, which the Second Vatican Council (cf. Declaration Nostra Aetate, n. 3) pointed out to us as an attitude that is only right.
Pope Benedict XVI - Address to Turkish Ambassador (January 19, 2007 AD)
During my memorable Visit, I frequently expressed the respect of the Catholic Church for Islam and the esteem of the Pope and the faithful for Muslim believers, especially during my Visit to Istanbul's Blue Mosque.
The above is esteeming a religion which teaches its followers that any from amongst them who embraces the Lord Jesus Christ, and converts to Christianity, is to be killed (Sahih al-Bukhari 3017, 6922, Sahih Muslim 1676a-d, etc.). And, notice in the last quotation that Pope Benedict XVI professes to be speaking on behalf of "the Catholic Church", not merely expressing his opinion.
Compare the above to the following from the ecumenical Council of Florence:
Council of Florence - Session 19 (1434 AD)
Moreover, we trust that with God's help another benefit will accrue to the Christian commonwealth; because from this union, once it is established, there is hope that very many from the abominable sect of Mahomet will be converted to the catholic faith. What, then, should not be attempted and done by Christ's faithful for so holy and salutary an objective? What Catholic is not in duty bound to risk not only the passing substance of this world but even his body and soul for such an advance of the Christian name and the orthodox faith?
Pope Calixtus III (1378-1458 AD), also, spoke forcefully against the religion of Islam:
Pope Calixtus III (1455 AD)
I, Pope Calixtus III, promise and vow to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to the Ever-Virgin Mother of God, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the heavenly host, that I will do everything in my power, even, if need be, with the sacrifice of my life, aided by the counsel of my worthy brethren, to reconquer Constantinople, which in punishment for the sin of man has been taken and ruined by Mahomet II, the son of the devil and the enemy of our Crucified Redeemer.
Further, I vow to deliver the Christians languishing in slavery, to exalt the true Faith and to extirpate the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet in the East. For there the light of Faith is almost completely extinguished. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten. Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee. If I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy, God and His holy Gospel help me. Amen. (source)
Therefore, Pope Benedict XVI expresses his "esteem" and "respect" for a religion that his predecessors call an "abominable sect", and "the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet".
Pope Benedict XVI, in an address to an ecumenical assembly in Germany, stated the following:
Pope Benedict XVI - Address to the Ecumenical Meeting on World Youth Day (August 19, 2005)
I would like now to express the joy I feel on the occasion of my Visit to Germany, in being able to meet you and offer a warm greeting to you, the Representatives of the other Churches and Ecclesial Communities.
We all know there are numerous models of unity and you know that the Catholic Church also has as her goal the full visible unity of the disciples of Christ, as defined by the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council in its various Documents. This unity, we are convinced, indeed subsists in the Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever being lost; the Church in fact has not totally disappeared from the world.
On the other hand, this unity does not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return: that is, to deny and to reject one's own faith history. Absolutely not!
Above, Benedict states that the Catholic Church does not pursue what can be called the "ecumenism of the return", wherein non-Catholic religions become absorbed into the Roman Catholic Church.
Bolstering the fact that this is indeed what he means, and that he is rejecting Protestants abandoning Protestantism for Catholicism, is that the address is aimed at non-Catholics specifically in Germany, and also that Benedict has stated similar things in the past, which clearly indicate that this is his belief:
Pope Benedict XVI - Principles of Catholic Theology, pg 202
It means that the Catholic does not insist on the dissolution of the Protestant confessions and the demolishing of their churches but hopes, rather, that they will be strengthened in their confessions and in their ecclesial reality.
The above is a nearly word-for-word contradiction of what Pope Pius XI stated in regard to unity with non-Catholics:
Pope Pius XI - Mortalium Animos (1928 AD)
10 So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it.
From the above, it is clear that Pope Pius XI and Pope Benedict XI believed and taught different things on the issue of what can be considered "unity" with respect to Catholicism and non-Catholic Christians, particularly Protestants.
Historically, the Roman Catholic Church has taught that all Jews will go to Hell, and anyone practicing the Old Testament Law, including keeping the Sabbath, will go to Hell:
Council of Florence (1445 AD)
It firmly believes, professes and teaches that the legal prescriptions of the old Testament or the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, holy sacrifices and sacraments, because they were instituted to signify something in the future, although they were adequate for the divine cult of that age, once our lord Jesus Christ who was signified by them had come, came to an end and the sacraments of the new Testament had their beginning. But it asserts that after the promulgation of the gospel they cannot be observed without loss of eternal salvation... Therefore it denounces all who after that time observe circumcision, the sabbath and other legal prescriptions as strangers to the faith of Christ and unable to share in eternal salvation, unless they recoil at some time from these errors.
It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart "into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41), unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock;
Notice that the above specifically says that the Church "denounces all who after that time observe the sabbath", referring to the beginning of the New Covenant.
However, Pope Benedict XVI extolled Jews for their Sabbath keeping:
Pope Benedict XVI - Address to the Jewish Community (September 12, 2008 AD)
Dear friends, it is with great pleasure that I meet with you this evening. Our meeting auspiciously coincides with the vigil of the weekly celebration of the shabbat, the day which from time immemorial has occupied a significant position in the religious and cultural life of the people of Israel. Every pious Jew sanctifies the shabbat with the reading of the Scriptures and the reciting of the Psalms. Dear friends, as you know, the prayer of Jesus also was nourished by the Psalms. Regularly he went to the temple and the synagogue. There he too listened to the word on the Sabbath. There he wanted to underline the goodness with which God cares for man, even in the arrangement of time.
Does not the Talmud Yoma (85b) say: the Sabbath is offered to you, but you are not offered to the Sabbath? Christ has asked the people of the Covenant to recognize always the unprecedented greatness and love of the Creator for all humanity. Dear friends, because of that which unites us and that which separates us, we share a relationship that should be strengthened and lived. And we know that these fraternal bonds constitute a continual invitation to know and to respect one another better.
It is dishonest to dialogue with Jews fraternally, and affirm their practices on the Sabbath, when an infallible Ecumenical Council of one's own Church has specifically anathematized them all to Hell, and condemned all those who keep the Sabbath.