Protestantism vs Catholicism

[Shinra Executive]

This is the type of arrogance that makes me resent that word. I don't refer to myself as "Protestant" for the reasons I've stated earlier. Protesting against Catholicism is not a part of my faith. I ignore the Catholic church. The Pope is not my leader Jesus Christ is. But by referring to me as a "Protestant" immediately implies I've some concerns with the Pope and the Catholic church which, beyond pity, is certainly not the case.

If you want to describe me as that I could throw the same accusation in your face for not accepting Allah as the Almighty Lord and Muhammed pbuh as his messenger. It's not a question of you denying it or protesting it but rather not believing it from the off. To think of it as a protest is arrogant and derogatory to me.

Harlequin

I don't see why you find it derogatory. It is simply a name coined by it's original stance, much like how Catholicism means 'universal'. The Church split from Eastern orthodoxy in 1054 AD, and was coined universal because it believed the Keys succeeded in the papacy, being prime over all churches.
If you look in Matthew 16:17-19, Christ blesses Peter, making him the rock in which he will build his church. In fact, Peter is a transliteration of Petrus, which literally means rock. He then gives him the Keys. The papacy is about those keys being handed down to each Pope.
The Church has apostolic power, which is why it is the way it is.

Protestantism is not traditional Christianity. You have the Anglican communion, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and so on that all hold to traditional concepts. They all venerate Mary and whatnot.
Protestantism is actually the smallest brand of Christianity. It may seem like there is a lot of them, but in reality, there are only a few hundred million of them out of 2.3 billion total Christian population in the world.

The Catholic catechism dictates that Catholics should count Protestants as Christians and as equals, because they cannot be put to blame for the heresy of the founders. There is no apostolic power needed for baptism, and that is the cornerstone of Christian initiation.
However, the big difference is that Protestants also have a diametrically opposed belief of justification. That is where the center of the beef lies. They don't believe in faith with works, but rather imputed righteousness. This is what causes a bit of strife between Baptists and Catholics, for example.