The Pope's challenges

No betrayal could be greater than that of a pedophile-rapist priest or nun. Who would confess to such clergy? What matters here is not gender, but the purity of mind and strength of vocation that vest clergy with numinous powers like the abilities to hear confessions, absolve sins, hold mass, and bless the laity. Yet, gender matters because the Catholic Church prohibits women from being ordained as priests. Not just a plea for basic justice, the demand to include women priests is pragmatic. The act of confessing, if it is to cleanse the soul, is uniquely intimate. Women are more likely to be comfortable with female rather than male priests

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Pope Leo XIV has heavy responsibilities – not just because the Catholic Church has reached global proportions, but because it has many problems – both internal and external. Add to this, the unprecedented ethical turbulence of our extraordinary historical moment, and we are left with a moral tornado.

The internal problems of the Catholic Church are complex. First, its excessive protocol and opulence signify loss of conscience. Add to this, the church's financial woes, and the lavish lifestyles of clergy who betray their vow of holy poverty by indulging in sumptuous feasts, armies of chefs, palatial homes, and other luxuries unworthy of the servants of Christ, who had nowhere to lay His head. Pope Leo will never forget the poorest of the poor he once served in Peru. If nothing else, for their sake he will always remain simple.

But the most egregious of all the church's internal problems lies in its pedophile clergy (mainly priests, but also nuns) and in its inadequate responses to crimes committed against its most vulnerable followers – little children. Add to this, priests who have raped nuns. As butchers disguised like shepherds – such clergy smell of butchers, not shepherds.

Here it is important to distinguish monks from priests. Where monks and nuns are expected to renounce the world, seeking the world through God – priests stand between heaven and earth, seeking God through the world. Their tasks are worldly, for they manage God's household, delivering sacraments, etc. Catholic priests have the added duties of hearing confessions, absolving sins, and blessing the laity. For this, they must be pure enough to serve as undiluted conduits of Christ. But are they?