One by one, Pope greets hundreds in wheelchairs, laments society’s rejection of the disabled

[Moonwalk]

106. Why? I'm sure there are pictures of Sen. Owen Hill teaching and caring for poor kids in Africa...

How are those different from this picture of the Pope shaking hands with the disabled? Which is one very good reason why my head—for one--isn't exploding at the sight of all this Jesus like compassion for the poor and lame, and why my skepticism remains firmly in place. Sen. Owen Hill worked with poor kids in Africa. DO you think we should vote for him because he did that? I mean, I'm sure Sen. Hill was very genuine and sincere in his faith and religion when he went to Africa to help out poor kids. And I'm sure the Pope is genuine and sincere in his faith and religion in what he's doing here. But neither act convinces me that they're good leaders.

Let's see how much church money the Pope invests in changing disabled laws in Catholic countries, in making sure Catholic hospitals hand out wheelchairs and prosthetics; let's see him change the Church's stance on contraceptives or at least condoms and family planning so that parents in poor, Catholic countries can give more attention to their disabled child rather than having more children and not being able to give that special child the more attention that he/she needs and that the Pope laments they're not getting.

When/if he starts to make some real changes, then we can talk. But even then, I'm afraid that my head is in no way going to explode. It's going to stay where it's always been. Steady on my shoulders, watching and waiting and reserving judgement. Because the Catholic Church and the Popes who are the "leaders" of it have not earned my blind trust. They have a long way to go before I'm going to be convinced that either the leader of this organization or the organization itself has changed and evolved. There's been too many decades of terrible damage done by the church and its leaders for any Pope, however many pictures he takes with the poor and lame, to be given a pass by me at least. Not until he does something with his power that is very real and very tangible.