Quote Originally Posted by Marick
And he has also caused many people to be hated. homosexuals for instance were declared a part of the ideology of evil. The man was not helpful to the world at all. He told others how to run their lives, was close minded, and above all else, feeble. In his last 6-7 years as pope, all he did was read statements made by the Council of Cardinals, because in the end, he has no real power after his health reaches a certain stage. That is because he is thought to be incapable of making rational and clear ideas for the church itself.
Agreed.

Also, I'd like to point out that the pope didn't have to follow any of the doctrines of the church, he chose to. You shouldn't say "I want to be Catholic" and then join the church and get told what to think(although sadly that happens quite often), you should have a belief structure and find a religion or whatnot that works with that. No one made the pope hate gays, hate birth control or love Jesus, he made a concious choice to do that. So when you say that he had to do these things, no, he did not. Not only was he the man with the power to try and make changes if he saw them necessary, he could always step down if he didn't agree with the church, or not even become the pope for that matter. The pope became the pope because he agreed with all of the church's teachings 110%.