10,000 Catholics 'de-baptise' themselves due to Pope's comments- thoughts on this?

[John S]

As a Catholic..

Wow!...just wow! -- both at the over-reaction as well as the 'spin doctors' who are mis reporting this.

First things first... "website traffic" does not mean actual Catholics who left.
the ACTUAL report simply stated that this one site (I'm sure there are more) saw traffic increase from 10 to 10,000

1) are those unique IPs (visitors)? -- probably, as it is pretty easy to differentiate, but the report doesn't exactly say. 1 person could visit the site multiple times, and unless the traffic analyzer ignores my subsequent visits.. I could unintentionally inflate that number.

2) No one says that those are even Catholics. They could be merely interested people who heard about the site.

3) No where can he validate how many went through with it.

4) Wouldn't it be more reliable to try and get these numbers from the Dioceses in the Netherlands to see how many forms they actually GOT?

5) How many of these 'baptized Catholics" were non-practicing already or had left the church long ago and are part of the 44% of Dutch who claim to be non-religious..but were Catholic according to Baptismal records??

So these are things we have to ask..before anti-theists get all giddy and claim that the church is becoming irrelevant.

BUT as for your questions..


<<Are the Vatican becoming more remote from their worshippers?>>
Don't think so.. if anything LESS. The Pope has Facebook, YouTube, and recently a Twitter account. He is the most accessible Pope of all time. He even Texts with his phone.
Record numbers keep attending World Youth Day and he is the first Pope to go to England in decades.
The Church is actually entering what it calls "A Spring time of faith"

<<Are these Catholics bad Christians?>>
We don't know and shouldn't pass judgement. There is limited evidence to even suggest that the anonymous traffic is from actual Catholics.

<<Is the church losing the respect of it's members?>>
I'm sure SOME. People get offended at all kinds of things.
I think his comments were for a certain audience..however, he should know that they would be picked up by the media. So I think his choice of words was claumsy and he knows it.. I think he meant it to stirr things up..that's my opinion. He has a history of NOT sugar coating things.
Pope John Paul 2nd was more touchy feely -- Pope Benedict is more like a calculating academic. Like a Law Professor.
Brilliant mind and strategist..but NOT very touchy feely and cuddly.

<<What is the general opinion of the pope?>>
See above... NOT like Pope John Paul the 2nd, for sure. But brilliant in his own right.

<<Is the pope, being a strict man, a good thing for the church (standing up for it's opinions, whether they are popular or not) or an out-of-touch prejudiced bully that's damaging the church's reputation further? >>
Those who were on the fence.. this may push over. Divide the chaff from the wheat.
Those that already disliked the Church and what it stands for now have another reason.
Those who are steadfast Catholics.. this changes nothing.

<<Is Catholicism dying a slow death?>>
That has been the prediction since Rome persecuted Christians.. 2,000 years later.. people should know not to bet against the church.

Yet, still people claim that its demise is emminient or 'slowly dying'

Despite these dire predictions from those outside of the church... Worldwide.. most surveys or estimates show 1 or 2 things.
1) it is holding steady - replacing members as fast as it is losing them
2) some pew reports show a 3-6% increase depending upon which estimates you use.

The Catholic church is a world wide religion (actually Universal, seeing how the Mass has been celebrated in Space, aboard the U.S. Space shuttle) and so loosing members in one place is not a huge concern.