UNITED STATES
Moyerboard
Thursday, May 10, 2012
It’s no secret that the Vatican’s once esteemed reputation has faded dramatically in recent years, especially in westernized nations. Papal visits still draw massive crowds of Catholic worshipers around the world, and the Pope himself still meets regularly with both cherished and vilified world leaders. But these visits are now merely symbolic, carrying only slightly more weight than visits by members of England’s Royal Family.
The Holy See’s once commanding authority, which played a role in collapsing the Berlin Wall and dissolving the Soviet Union, has all but evaporated. This dramatic fall from grace has been primarily attributed to the Church’s sex abuse scandal and subsequent cover up, in which Cardinals and other top officials have attempted to egregiously shift the blame onto secular society, lawyers, and the media.
But the sex abuse scandal is not the only reason why respect for the Church’s hierarchy is quickly diminishing. The Vatican’s unwavering insistence on pontificating politics is also turning many Catholics, particularly American Catholics, away from Church doors. Earlier this month, the Vatican issued a scathing reprimand directed towards the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents the vast majority of American nuns. According to the reprimand, the Vatican believes that American nuns are concentrating too much on feeding the poor and on income inequality, and too little on politicized social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage.
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