According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll(http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2005-04-03-poll.htm, scroll down to #37), American Catholics feel the next pope should:
- Allow Catholics to use birth control - 78%
- Allow priests to marry - 63%
- Make church doctrine on stem cell research less strict - 59%
- Allow women to become priests - 55%
- Allow Catholics to divorce and re-marry without getting an annulment - 49%
Apparently, the majority of American Catholics will have to wait at least a few more years... Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, does not seem to have that kind of open interpretation of church doctrine.
ReplyDeleteBut, he's no kid, either..
Catholics can always come home to the Episcopal church! Of course, we're not the ONE TRUE FAITH, but we're okay with that.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, you have to wonder why he chose Benedict. There were no remarkable Benedicts, from I to XV.
Here's a good article on why people who are not Roman Catholic should care about the Pope.
ReplyDeleteThe author says, "Being a non-Catholic nowadays is a bit like being a non-American most of the time. Important, maybe even historic, decisions are being made and you are totally locked out. America chooses a president who gets a bee in his bonnet about Iraq and a hunk of the world goes to war. The cardinals of the church choose a pope and maybe an even bigger hunk of the world is affected -- everything from population control to AIDS. The import is clear: We -- that's all of us -- have a new pope."