No offense, but you need to visit the catching forum here. It will be an eye opener.
I'm open to being convinced on the footing but nothing will convince me that a catcher shouldn't rip the mask off to locate and catch a pop up. I've seen it make a difference too many times. I've also seen catchers sit there with a ball basically dropping right behind or beside them because they had no peripheral vision to locate it with the mask still on. My daughter started playing catcher seriously at almost 12 so I'm aware there may be differences in ideal techniques at younger ages. I'll leave it at that as to not derail this particular thread.