The Pope is in the hospital for the second time in 2 weeks, making it even more likely that he will soon pass his position onto someone else–either by retiring or passing away. Now, I don’t want to be disrespectful of the the current Pope here, but I think it is time for a change.

In his upcoming book, Pope John Paul launches himself and the Catholic Church into the domestic politics of secular states. He describes gay marriage as part of a “new ideology of evil” and laments the pressure on governments to allow them. He also compares legalized abortion to the Holocaust.

Abortion is an extremely difficult subject for people to grapple with and it deals directly with many religious issues. If the Pope says life begins at conception, then Catholics who follow the edicts of the Vatican can listen to him.

The same is true for gay marriage. The entire idea of homosexuality is deeply troubling for many people. If the Vatican says it’s wrong to be gay and that gay people shouldn’t get married, then Catholics who follow the edicts of the Vatican and are gay can stop being gay (or they can try to deny that they are gay…whatever).

My problem with the Pope right now is that he isn’t saying, “Hey Catholics, don’t do these things!” No, he’s telling Catholics to push for Catholic political goals in their countries. He is denouncing the democratically chosen laws of sovereign, secular countries.

The thing that really bothers me is the Pope’s stance on gay marriage. I guess I can handle his opining about abortion, but he has no jurisdiction or moral authority over civil marriages. Gay marriage has nothing to do with Catholicism. Surely the Pope can recognize that. In today’s world, MOST of the marriages that occur are not Catholic-approved.

When the Pope inserts Catholicism into the secular political debates of a country, he is overstepping his bounds and is misunderstanding his role as the head of the Church (and not the state). I sincerely hope that the next Pope will be less of a meddler in other countries’ domestic politics.

~The Stuffed Tiger