I don't believe this is Pope bashing Phil. You're being too sensitive about this. What the Pope said, I believe was damaging and was a reversal of the process of reconciliation under Pope John Paul II.
Personally I would feel embarrased, but like most Catholics I really don't give much consideration to what the Pope says to anything.
There are many people here that bash the Papacy and our faith, my friend, and you only encourage people by saying that you basically don't care what the Earthly leader of our Church says.
For the record, yet again, I oppose the Pope's decision on this matter. I voiced my opposition. I just worry that some people take this as an opportunity to bash our customs (for example, the very existence of the Papacy).
I'm not encourging people to 'bash' the faith and the Church. If anything I'm allaying some private fears on the matter by saying, as a Catholic, that I am not pleased with what was said and that Pope is not speaking for many Catholics on this matter. Do I care what he says? Yes, because I then have to defend the faith. Do I agree with what he says or do I follow what he says? No.
I posted a topic on the personal politics post about this sort of thinking, in this instance relating to the abolition of limbo, but I'll post part of it here.
'I don't believe in the infallable authority of the Pope, not because of who the current pope is and what he supports, it would be the same if a liberal was in charge. No one man can claim to have a 'hotline' to God whether he lives in a neo-classic palace and leads a billion, or lives in a compound in the middle of nowhere and leads less than a dozen. Neither can I believe in the Church's infallibility. How dare the Church turn round and declare to Catholics that limbo doesn't exist and then close the book on the matter. Limbo was real for millions of Catholics now and in the past who had lost a child or suffered a miscarriage. They suffered and prayed and sought penance for their lost child, many believing themselves responsible for their child's apparent joyless and lonely eternity. And now the Church turns around and says they got it a 'bit wrong.' Where is the solace for those who went to their graves believing they would never see their child again?... Of course the Catholic Church, having made this u-turn is immediately infallible once again.
So if your baby dies of AIDS or an HIV related illness, bourne from it's mother before it is baptised, then it's not going to that hellish void anymore. Your baby is still born HIV positive, indeed was born at all because you followed church contraceptive policy and will have a horrible short life. However I've came to realise that that encapsulates Catholic dogma more than anything. It is better to suffer and follow doctrine than to break it, and be relieved of suffering because what comes after death is more important than the 'short term' conveniences of life. It is better to get pregnant when you can't afford it, or to catch an STD that ravages your body when you can prevent it, because to use any form of contraception is sinful. It is better to suppress your sexuality than to express it and suffer mentally as a result because life is fleeting and after death comes eternity. How horribly patronising. How dare the Church say we cannot suspend long standing irrational dogma in order to preserve the physical and metal health of ourselves and our fellow man...'
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I consider myself to be a resolute believer in 'lay Catholicsm.' If church monies are misused I do not give money to the Church. If a Catholic charity has, in my view, a morally repugnant contraceptive policy in Africa, then I withold donations to it. When a priest delivers a message from the bishop or cardinal on the 'hot social topic' of the day, or close to election time then I walk out of mass as mass is not a place to hear such things.
However we have a Pope who is repositioning the Church into dangerous territory and this is causing people to once again propogate misunderstandings about the Catholic faith and Catholics themselves. We have not been given any reassurance that the revival of the Latin mass will not contain the once traditional call to convert the Jews and now we are told that the Catholic Church is the one and only path to Christ. The Pope also threatened to excommunicate Catholic politicians who did not vote according to Church positions before the Vatican quickly hurried to 'clarify' the Pope's position and neutralise the decision. We have, a 'foot in mouth' Pope who does not have the communication skills of his predecessor.
