I greatly appreciate his intellect, and I appreciate even more that he did not carry on his predecessor's promotion of Mariolatry. Nice piece, Kate. Cheers, Tim (timfall.wordpress.com)

As a former Catholic who still dearly loves the Church, I found that the Catholic Church seems to be far more female friendly than the majority of evangelical churches out there. Southern Baptists, Mark Driscoll, John Piper -- those types of evangelicals seem to be far more focused on keeping women "in their place" than welcoming them to the alter along-side men. I don't consider abortion a "woman's issue", I consider it a human rights issue -- and the unborn child is just as human as you or I. I am proud that the Catholic Church is unwavering in their commitment to Life. In fact, their commitment to life has some real substance: anti-abortion, anti-death penalty, along with working with the poor in all nations.

I would think abortion is a rather big issue that impacts women. The pope does not have any influence on me, and I'm female, but most certainly not Catholic.

Thanks Kate. This is a helpful piece. Loved this line: Open communication is the great un-doer of hierarchy. Amen.