[Jim Noble]

So you're equating the Pope to Stalin, eh?

Not at all.

I am equating the ignorance of those who say, "If only the Pope knew" to the ignorance of those who said, "If only Stalin knew".

What do you think-that the Vatican does not hear these things on a daily basis from the faithful in the United States? Do you seriously contend that the problem of blatant, open promotion of homosexuality by Catholic religious and some bishops in the United States is unknown in Rome?

Is that what you think the explanation is?

[Antoninus]

What do you think-that the Vatican does not hear these things on a daily basis from the faithful in the United States? Do you seriously contend that the problem of blatant, open promotion of homosexuality by Catholic religious and some bishops in the United States is unknown in Rome? Is that what you think the explanation is?

I know what the explanation is already and it's far more complicated than you make it out to be. The Catholic Church is often presented by those outside of it to be an absolute monarchy. That's not true. The Pope can not simply start knocking bishops and cardinals out of their sees willy-nilly. We would have a full blown schism be for you could say "heresiarch."

The Church works in geologic time. The Pope's goal is to protect the unity of the Church while trying to minimize the damage that rogue bishops are doing and implementing a long-term solution that will preclude this problem from recurring in the future. If you think such deeply engrainged problems involving a 1 billion+ body spread out over the entire world speaking every language under the sun can be solved in a few months, you're daft. Add to this the fact that millions of people and billions of dollars are dedicated to undermining the Church by forces both inside and outside and the difficulty of the Vatican's position becomes plain.

Quite simply, the Catholic Church is the largest source of good on the planet. And there are many, many powerful people that would like to undermine or destroy that power.

That said, I'm sure the Pope goes to bed each night tormented with the notion that he can not do more to heal the wounds caused by scoundrels in the episcopacy.