Pope Benedict XVI is losing popularity

I predict a face-saving way will be found to have Pope Benedict resign... illness being most likely. I can't see how he can hang on in the face of such a massive opinion swing and breach of integrity, and Christian forgiveness be darned in this case!

What I found really interesting was that USA doesn't like anyone very much. Obama is borderline and only T Blair and Dalai Lama have any substantial support - you'd imagine T Blair due to support for Dubya/Uraq/Afghanistan etc and Dalai Lama as an anti-China cause celebre.

Not to direct this at any particular organization, but it seems to me that if you want to start repairing your credibility after giving shelter to child rapists for decades, it is pretty clear how you should start. First, admit that you have entirely failed to prevent criminal abuse through your internal processes. Second, openly encourage civil authorities around the world to prosecute your members and affiliates just as they would any other criminals. Third, make all your internal records available to assist them in securing arrests and convictions. Fourth, encourage the prosecutions of those involved in covering up known crimes, as well as those who actually committed them.

Anything less than that and you can be rightly accused of just perpetuating the aiding and abetting of vile crimes, and continuing to utterly fail to act as an ethical or responsible organization.

As for those looking into the matter from outside, it is time to stop allowing organizations to hide behind pathetic euphemisms and false contrition.

More: http://www.sindark.com/2010/03/25/cleaning-house/

I am American and I truly believe that Zapatero, Ki-moon, Zapatero, and Barroso are unknown to 99% of Americans.

Even Merkel and Sarkozy are pretty obscure to most Americans. Maybe Sarkozy gets the edge because of his attractive wife.

All Americans know Obama good or bad. Beyond that most Americans know Benedict, Dalai Lama and then Putin. Most people know Brown/Blair due to the "special relationship", but beyond that even I have problems remembering who leads our neighbors to the north and south. Sad.

Given that I don't know how you conduct polls when the initial answer is "who?" when a name is given.

Only dramatic action will restore any dignity to the Catholic Church and that includes wholesale resignation of any senior church officials ever tainted by this dreadful scandal. It also needs to look long and hard at the idea of 'celibate' men being anywhere except confined to a remote monastery.

I am also surprised at how 'popular' Tony Blair is in France... how big was the sample of respondents? And I love the Italians for being so positive about everyone... but then I suppose compared to Berlusconi the rest are saints.

I love it. Reading the table, no matter which leader is cited they are more popular in Italy than in their own country. In Italian we call this our "esterofilia" - the fact we love all things foreign.

It's also clear that compared to Berlusconi (or the "opposition") most of us would accept any foreign leader.

It is interesting to note that many of the occurances of these reprehensible acts occurred during the 1960's and 1970's, but the fallout is over secrecy and policy. Yes the Church needs to be more open about current practices and policy, but what other institution is held liable for offenses by its members in the distant past? Certainly not the boy scouts or other social service providers.
One wonders if their is another agenda here.

Interesting to see that the British have the least positive view of almost all the leaders, even the two British ones on the list.

Maybe British sceptisism towards europe is simply a part of their sceptisism towards everything.

So we should hold the pope personally responsible for the criminal actions of those in positions of responsibility in the Roman Catholic Church? For every criminal action ? For not pursuing the alleged criminals? For not taking enough notice of allegations ? That is a responsibility no person can carry out perfectly as head of any organization with more than a few hundred members, let alone a few hundred millions.
So the pope is imperfect ? No surprise, we are all human. The pope does his best to bring people to the faith he holds to. How many of his critics are really motivated to bring about a better world or could do a better job? How many of his critics are not guilty of something of which would be very ashamed if it came to light?
What does the Book say ? 'Let him who is without sin cast the first stone'

Who cares what people think of the Pope. Last time I checked, the Catholic church was not a democracy. Go to church and live your religion.

This story will grow and grow - I have no doubt that thousands of abused children will come forward to give evidence of abuse by priests given the current publicity. I foresee the Mother of all Class Actions as US lawyers gather victims and allege a conspiracy on behalf of the Church. They will seek sufficient damages to bankrupt the Catholic Church, and unless the Pope starts to sack every single priest, bishop and cardinal who was involved in the decision making process, I doubt there is a jury in North America which won't award the largest punitive damages in history. As the Pope was also involved in the knowledge chain - he also has to go, and fast. I'm certainly not suggesting that he was involved in abuse or cover up, but he clearly has failed to act as the public expects a holy leader to act as both pope and before then, cardinal. He must clean house and then resign to save the church.

Pope Benedict XVI is too small a man to fill the shoes of his predecessor, John Paul II.

The Catholic Church is an anachronistic and corrupt organization, which serves nothing but its to promote its own sense of importance in the world. Sadly, its response to the priest pedophilia scandal (and to many other such scandals) is typically a day late and a dollar short. Happily, this will lead many Catholics to leave the church, which will result in it sinking further into a mire of its own creation. No big loss really.

I Think we can all find out from the comfort of our keyboards just how good or indeed bad the Roman Catholic Church has been over the centuries.

The question is does the good outweigh the bad ? The answer is unquestionably No..the bad wins unanimously simply because even one innocent child defiled by one of its Priests erases any good the church may have achieved over many many years.

But what has come to light over the last 3 decades or so is profoundly much more disturbing..The absolute facts are that thousands of the worlds children have been systematically raped & abused by members of the Catholic Church.

No institution can possibly survive these accusation & remain the force it was ..or indeed has the right to. MJC

"Yes the Church needs to be more open about current practices and policy..."

You have got to be kidding. That goes completely against the core MO of the church.

Pope bashing is a no brainer sport. People bash this poor old guy with no one to defend him. The sad truth is that sex abuse goes on every day throughout the world in public schools and gets little attention. Yet it seems to becomes a major story when people come forward to say they were molested twenty years ago. The priests are either dead at this point or can't defend themselves. So why doesn't the media do everyone a favor and spend the time of exposing contemporary sex abuse? By exposing criminals involved in sexual assaults today you might stop these low lifes from hurting more children.

So leave that poor old Pope alone. Shame on you.

RochesterRay wrote:

'It is interesting to note that many of the occurrences of these reprehensible acts occurred during the 1960's and 1970's, but the fallout is over secrecy and policy.'

I think these things have been happening for a long time - probably centuries. It was not that there was a freak outbreak of evil among the Catholic clergy during the 60's and 70's, it was that it was only recently that society shed enough shame to bring these matters to the light of day. It was very difficult for individuals, especially men, to speak of being molested or raped; it was very difficult for society to accept that men of religion were capable of such crimes.

While I'm sure that pederasts form a very small proportion of priests, it's also true that the proportion of pederasts among the priesthood is far larger than among the general population. There is something about the priesthood that disproportionately attracts men with this leaning.

I think it's clear that priestly celibacy is at the root of the problem, along with what is apparently a deeply flawed vetting process. The human sex drive cannot be obliterated or denied, only channeled. If normal marriage isn't available to a group of people, than people with normal sexual feelings won't be as inclined to join that group. And if that group happens to be especially entrusted with power over children, then it'll be especially attractive for pederasts.

Does popularity matter in the case of the Pope? Does he have to do things so he furthers his popularity? Does the Catholic Church have to change its doctrines to gain market share?

Pope and Popularity and two words that do not go together.

Can't speak for the rest of the world, but opinion polls will soon be academic for the Catholic Church in North America.

The average age of a priest around here is somewhere between 65 and deceased (apologies to Lee Iacocca). 20 years on, there won't be enough Catholics to acknowledge a Pope, much less be polled whether they like him or not.

A sad loss though. The church has done a powerful amount of good in the world. All to be undone by a criminal few, both perpetrators and conspirators in silence.

I wonder what St. Peter will say to Benedict when he hits the top of the escalator to heaven. Or perhaps Ratzinger will speaking to someone else in a much warmer place.

Where is Dear Leader Kim Jung-Il on that chart?

These perpetrators and their accomplices should long have been persecuted and trialled by the criminal justice system. Given the scale of the crimes the Catholic Church can now be considered a criminal organization. It needs a thorough housecleaning. The first to be heard by the police is the Pope himself. A truth and justice commission along the lines of that in South Africa after Apartheid may be needed to prevent future crimes, particularly in 3th world countries. We are not living in a theocracy where personnel of the ruling religious organisation can act with impunity. Also, sheer size is no reason the treat the Catholic Church any different from other organizations.