Nuns are standing up to the Vatican

[Matilda]

8. I think the church hierarchy parted company with most Catholics

when Paul VI declared that birth control was forbidden, and it's been downhill from then on. The Vatican seems determined to march backwards as fast as it can - it can't work; the genie came out of the bottle with Vatican II, and it's not going back.

In Australia at least, and it's probably the same in most western countries, there is respect for the ritual and core beliefs of the church, but little for the Vatican and its toady prelates. It's generally believed that Cardinal Pell was sent to "sinful" Sydney to keep the flock in line, but most people I know think he's irrelevant. Not the brightest crayon in the box, he's living proof that to get on in the church you just have to toe the official line. I wouldn't say he's without compassion, but it's within a very narrow confine, and lacking in imagination.

WWJD may be a bit corny, yet when you ask that question in relation to much that is currently coming from the Vatican, it's hard not to see a huge divide.

I suspect that if Christ came back today, he'd quickly be declared a heretic by the Vatican and persecuted just as he was before.