I'm not Catholic, but my wife is, and they do not worship the Pope... I hope that statement comes from not being educated on the religion rather than ignorance.
The Pope is "the" leader of their religion, the top guy, in the WHOLE world. If people want to crowd together to see him, I can dig it. People gather in large crowds for much dumber things in life.
If the world had one leader, everyone would gather around when said leader would ride through a city.
I've never heard of anyone praying to the Pope, never. Maybe Mary, I don't know, I will ask my wife. I normally don't pry into how she prays. Catholics seem to have more faith in their religion, especially when comparing them to Baptists.
On a related note... this is kind of amusing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4aiXVfys74 in case it doesn't embed properly, it is not embedding on my computer.