"Note to Pope: Half of World's Poor are Women"/Full Equality of Women is Voice of God in our Time

..."let’s be clear: half of the world’s poor are women, and the Church’s effort to deprive the Catholic women among them of contraceptives, of the use of condoms that could protect them from HIV-AIDS, and of the ministry of women priests who would marry, absolve, and anoint them, is no service to them..... The new supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis I, has the opportunity to end another form of oppression, the second-class status of women in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis, bring down this wall!" Marian Ronan
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/6920/note_to_the_new_pope__half_of_the_world_s_poor_are_women/Excellent article! One of the big challenges that  Pope Francis faces is the need to change the failed church teachings that cause poverty, disease, and death like the bans on contraception/condoms and that deny the full equality of women in ministry as priests.  Will Pope Francis tear down the wall of injustice and sexism in the Catholic Church? Let's hope that, like Francis, his mission will be to rebuild the church that treats women as beloved sisters and equal partners in church and society.   Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org, sofiabmm@aol.com, 941-955-2313