At least there where a few as the post above who attempted to inject some reason here. I’m a protestant, who married a Catholic. I can see in this thread, the same mindless resitation of dogma and rehetoric, that’s kept me apart from the Catholic faith. The Pope is a well intentioned but sheltered old man. I hold some affection for him, but think he’s well past the point of being energetic enough to effectively lead an organization as vast as the Catholic Church effectively. He’s obviously being spoon fed most of his opinions by a handfull of clergy that surround him. For example his statement of church policy on the war mentions worries about the churches relations with Islam. Since when did Islam cease to be the heracy of a false profit, that the Catholic Church condemed and was even at war with for hundreds of years. Now, the pope is worried about damaging relations with it’s followers? I’d say more than a few of his predicessors, have done a pretty good job of that already. God wouldn’t have given us our own minds, if he didn’t expect us to use them!