Going back, first of all, to Louise's post, she's so absolutely right. The Pope's position (and that of his predecessors) on homosexuality is so out of date and out of line with scientific observations and real life that it is utterly untenable and borders on the preposterous. Thank God they no longer burn people at the stake!

How can any "serious" organisation actually put forward such views and expect them to be respected in today's enlightened world, when only fanatics would swallow them without criticism? It is because of this that the Church receives - and deserves - such derisive comments as those above and those that may follow. Short of wishing for his demise, I also hope the Pope will surrender his absolute power within the Vatican to a College of Bishops made up of people with a broader world view, even if he remains their mouthpiece.

<I have just given myself a mental image which it would be prudent not to share!>

Personally, I believe Roman Catholics are just like any other people, Christian, atheist or Jew. I do not believe thay are at all like Louise's description - not as a group anyway, and certainly no more than any other group. They laugh and love and ache and cry in just the same way as everyone else. I also believe the majority of priests, though celibate, are not paedophiles or pederasts and, importantly, I do not believe they are out of touch with their congregations. They might be out of touch with the rest of society, but that is because society has rid itself of much of the superstition the Church still clings to. Other Churches are more democratic, and this perhaps protects their pastors, preachers and priests from themselves, and so I call for the reform and democratisation of Mother Church to bring it into line with the other creeds and to remove some of the tarnish to its reputation that its present leaders bring.