The Catholic church, already losing members like mad, decides to kick out a whole bunch more members

[Caliman73]

33. Essentially, yes.

If you accept the doctrine of Papal infallibility with regards to spiritual teaching, what is held fast on earth is held fast in Heaven.

The statement would have to be made in the form of a Papal Encyclical letter, it would have to be official documentation which would likely require discussion among the College of Cardinals and undergo doctrinal review.

Vatican II was a conference held in the 1960's that had a profound effect on how the Church interacted with people. It changed rules, it changed how Mass was celebrated, etc... It is still highly contentious among liberal and conservative factions in the Church.

There are a ton of people in the world who take this very very seriously.

I grew up Catholic and studied doctrine for 11 years, from 2nd to 12th grade. I no longer practice and thus am "in a state of mortal sin" I also do not believe. It is a sore spot in my family, who still practice. I just could not get past the idea that men (literally) were making these profound rules for people to live by based on a book cobbled together from oral tradition and created in "smoke filled rooms", as well as political machinations. Like I said however, there are a lot of people who would die for this idea and kill.