I fear for this Pope

[sabrina 1]

127. He, like our president, who has far more time actually, does not have the power to walk into

the Vatican and change 2000 years worth of doctrine.

Here's what you are suggesting, using a different example. You are demanding that one man change everything in a one billion member, 2000 year old religious institution. Do you have any idea of what that would entail? He has taken giant steps already to the amazement of people who DO understandl. Steps that fly in the face of the fundies who have ruled that institution for centuries. Rather than marvel that finally someone has come along who has TAKEN ON those fundies, who has stripped them of the weapons they have used in THIS country for as long as it has existed, all some people can do is to demand MORE, 'Faster please'. And he has barely had ONE YEAR out of 2000 to try to begin the process of reform. I am amazed. So are millions of others who unlike the 'me, now, I want' people who appear to have no clue about history or the danger he probably has already placed himself in, are screaming for MORE.

It is far more possible for the leader of a secular, democratic nation to apply the rule of law to war criminals, to Wall St. criminals, to use his power given to him by the people, to address poverty, to address equal pay for equal work among other issues we face right here in the US.

So, let me apply your standards for the Pope of a 2000 year old religious institutions still controlled by right wing fundies, you know the way our Congress is controlled by right wing fundies to see if you can begin to understand the momentous changes he has already made in just a year.

Why has Obama not passed the ERA? He's had four more years than the pope and this is not a religious institution.

Why has Obama not prosecuted Wall St criminals who plunged the working class which includes women, into poverty?

Why has Obama not even begun to start investigations into War Crimes, many of which involved the rape and torture of WOMEN in Iraq?

Why has Obama not stopped Republicans from undermining a Woman's right to choose in several states?

Why has Obama not ended poverty for women by instituting educational programs for single moms who are on Welfare but are forced to go to work to minimum wage jobs in order to keep receiving those much needed benefits?

I can go on, but I know the answers to those questions. The most familiar being 'how can he do this when he is dealing with a Republican controlled House'?

So we are left with appreciating the few things he has done. Gays in the military, eg, and it took long enough while many Gays were still in the position of having to hide who they were or be forced out of the military.

And yet, how much easier it should be in a Democracy when the people make a choice, for a leader to be able to do all those things. But realistically we KNOW the reality don't we?

So explain why the demands on a man who is facing far more obstacles to any reforms he wants to make than a US president when many of the same people don't expect much at all from the leaders of this country.

By comparison, this pope has moved things forward by miles considering the obstacles he is facing.

He doesn't have a magic wand. As we are constantly reminded about the President. Still he has already given the power to US elected Catholics to pass Gay Marriage in Ohio without fear of the fundies who this pope has effectively disarmed. And in such a short time. THAT is progress.

As for women in third world countries, I wonder what their priorities are. In war torn countries? When asked, they want food, they want to be able to collect wood for fires to keep their families warm, without being raped or killed on the way. They want their spouses to be able to work, rather than fighting for their lives. They want to keep their children alive rather than see them blown away by bombs and guns. They want their children to be able to go to school without being killed on the way.

They want foreign invaders to leave them alone, they want torture to end. They are totally absorbed with the survival of their loved ones.

Somalia, women desperatly trying to feed children who are starving eg. And when their children die, which they do every day, should we be telling them to use 'contraception' when what they want most is another child? Or do we think we know better? The Congo, where women are raped several times a day as soon as they step outside. What do you think their priorities are? The same as ours? I don't think so.

We do NOT know what is good for everyone, we don't even understand what women in other countries are going through. We THINK that they need us to tell them what they need. How arrogant. THIS pope worked among the poor his whole life so he has an idea of what poverty means to people.

How about we try to take care of our own immense problems right here and stop pretending we have any clue about what women in other parts of the need the most. Because we have no clue. We have not even succeeded in getting equal pay for equal work here. Even in Iraq under Hussein women had that. Let women decide what they need. Ask rather than tell them. You are assuming that you know what women in other parts of the world want. We have no right to do that. POVERTY is a killer. This pope knows that. How about we mind our business for a change, our interference has cause nothing but tragedy for women in the countries we brought 'democracy' to.