dale carpenter speaks of a time when catholics were the liberals in the christian realm.
however, through all of the dour predictions, it appears that europe doesn't seem to care very much about the pontiff's stance on homosexuality (spain, for example, a nation with a large catholic presence, is still set to pass its same sex marriage bill much to the chagrin of a huffing and puffing ratzinger)... and we already know americans are still going to use birth control no matter what that old dude in vatican city says. the more out of touch with the modern world the pope becomes, the less legitimate the church becomes in developed nations. and with the AIDS epidemic reaching frightening proportions in africa, i think local clergy might take a pragmatic rather than a dogmatic approach - i.e. rubbers are okay.
i wonder if the papacy will eventually end up like the royal family in great britain. like, they supposedly have all this prestige, but no one really listens to them. the paparazzi just sort of chases them around with cameras and give them air time, because they are the royal family, and they live in a cool house. (this is a somewhat ironic analogy, since at some point, henry viii declared himself the head of the anglican church and effectively replaced the papacy in england. and now an aside: holy nuts... the current royal family truly IS inbred!)
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