New Pope Doomed to Failure

Due to circumstances beyond human control, Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005. His successor is left with a difficult task that he has no chance of succeeding at. Despite anything that he may do, any allies that he may find, and any actions that he will take, there will be failure.

To begin with, the previous Pope left the Catholic Church in a declining state. Church attendance is dropping in many parts of the world. The once predominantly Catholic stronghold of Latin America has been lost, as now there are more Protestants in the region than before. Overall church attendance is down, and predictably, funding for churches are down.

Throughout the period from 1970 until now, church attendance has dropped due to society’s general attitude. Anti-establishment feelings in the 1970’s carried over to the Church, where people stopped attending in order to rebel. The 1980’s saw no change in this decline, as not even greater economic benefits could restore faith in the Catholic Church. During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the Church’s stance on certain issues, such as birth control lead many to believe that they cannot both be faithful Catholics due to their own personal beliefs, and as such attendance dropped rapidly. In order for this situation to be remedied, the Vatican would need to take a less conservative stance. However, as Benedict XVI has been described as a hard line conservative, few changes are likely, allowing the continued drop due to the fallout of the 2002 sex abuse scandals to have a diminishing effect. With Church attendance down, donations to the various Catholic churches themselves will drop, forcing some churches to close due to lack of funding.

On top of all of this are the recent scandals involving sex abuse within United States Catholic Church branches. Although these incidents are few and far between, their mere existence makes them harmful to the reputation of the Church. Pope John Paul II had enough problems with the difficulty it took to deal with this scandal, there is even less chance that Benedict XVI will be able to.

The Church’s political stances are harming it as well. Many people see the recent conclave as a sign of what direction the Church’s top officials were taking with policies regarding issues such as abortion, birth control, and homosexuality. Pope Benedict XVI helped John Paul reinforce his very conservative doctrines. His past shows that he is unlikely to change the policies fueling the political division that has ground progress to a halt within the US. With continued support from the Vatican, radical conservatives across the United States will have yet another excuse to pursue policies and agendas that could end up hurting this country badly. These conservatives will try to find any excuse to justify their actions, and the continued support of the Catholic Church is more than enough for some.

On top of all this, the new Pope may not even last very long. He is seen as “transitional” Pope, one whose role is limited by his old age. At 78, he is unlikely to be Pope for long, and this combined with the many problems facing him, will make him be remembered as the Pope who stood by and watched the Catholic Church fall into ruins.