Reply #3: The Catholic Church has one of the best, if not the very best, [View All]

[saltpoint]

charitable arms in the entire world.

There are a ton of anonymous Catholic people doing charity work in many different roles all over the place.

Opus Dei is not my cup of tea at all, and the various encyclicals are barked down from the Vatican porch without sensitivity or compassion. I'm not talking about those aspects of the Church.

It would be enormously helpful if the next Pope stood on that same porch and said, "Well, hell. We've looked again at the New Testament accounts of Mary Magdalen, and we think we can graft her significant contribution to the ministry of Jesus onto the apostolic succession thing, and voila, it's fine from this point forward if women are priests. If Mary Magdalen can contribute as she did to the ministry of Jesus, then women henceforth should be encouarged and welcomed in their wish to contribute to the modern-day flock."

Next, they need to stay out of the sex lives of LGBTQ folks all over the world.

And not least, they should continue their charitable work.

What a difference that small handful of changes would make in the public perception of the Vatican.