[Vigilanteman]

One should not mistreat the mentally ill. OTOH, one should not be forced to declare a mental illness as normal in order to win their favor.

Said strategy hasn't worked out so well for any of the mainline Protestant denominations which have tried it.

Only a fool would suppose it would work out any differently for the Roman Catholic Church.

[irishjuggler]

Said strategy hasn't worked out so well for any of the mainline Protestant denominations which have tried it. Only a fool would suppose it would work out any differently for the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal Pell from Australia made the same point in an interview a couple days ago. He gets it.

Pope Francis, on the other hand, comes from a country which really has no significant history of 'mainline Protestantism.' Same with a lot of the Italian bishops. I'm not sure they truly understand that caving in to the secular culture is a disastrous strategy. With a lot of them, I think there's just this naive belief that jettisoning unpopular positions will cause people who've left the Church to return. It doesn't work that way.