"The Perfect 19th Century Pope" by Maureen Dowd, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-francis-the-perfect-19th-century-pope.html?smid=nytcore-iphone-share&smprod=nytcore-iphone


...."But the biographer said that, for him, Francis’ “slow progress on sex abuse” and his lack of forward motion on women are “his huge areas of weakness.”


As the noted religion writer Kenneth Briggs told me: “People here are ardently projecting a lot of things onto this pope, including a liberal new day for the church. But there hasn’t been any change in the moral teachings. It’s to Francis’ credit, I guess, that he gets credit for things he hasn’t done.”

...:And at St. Patrick’s on Thursday night, he thrilled the American nuns present when he thanked them, asking, “What would the church be without you?” and saying, “I love you very much.”


But even as he was spreading the love to nuns, a priest in San Francisco, Father Jack McClure, was being sanctioned for appearing at a conference on women’s ordination in Philadelphia last weekend — a conference he said he attended in the spirit of the pope’s call for dialogue.

According to The National Catholic Reporter, Father McClure got a message from his archbishop in San Francisco, the archconservative Salvatore Cordileone — who supported a pastor who banned altar girls this year — that he could no longer celebrate Mass, starting in October.

“I feel the pain of being silenced,” the priest told the Catholic paper, “and in this silencing, I am beginning to feel the deep pain women feel all over the church.”

If only the pope could apply this Golden Rule: Do unto women as you would have them do unto you."