Is the Catholic Church losing its grip?

A rapidly increasing proportion of the faithful live in the developing world, and are dirt poor. The ministry of these people will cost more than will be received from them. Several European countries which were once classed as Catholic in 1900 have become neutral to any religion as they have become more educated and prosperous.

To build a great edifice upon a fantasy is a fatal mistake

If evolution is true, then there can be no soul as our species evolved from a microbe at such a gradual rate that there was no definitive moment in time when a fully formed soul, which could be rewarded or punished in an afterlife, could have suddenly jumped in.

The church’s teaching is that faith and the scientific evidence supporting evolution are not in conflict. The theologians who went through the intellectual gymnastics required to come to that conclusion, can only be pitied.

The pedophile priest problem, the contraception problem and the abortion problem are the penalties paid for insisting that humankind is a special creation and not just another species of animal which reproduces sexually.

Increasing will be the number of ordinary people who become aware of the advances in molecular biology providing yet more compelling evidence supporting the evolution concept. There will ultimately be an endpoint to the church’s untenable position - and it will probably be well before 2050.

Conclusion

There are too many things going wrong at the same time for the church to survive. Its cathedrals are among the West’s most magnificent artistic achievements - and they will remain to be its headstone.

Footnotes

1. Now that the “pilgrims” have gone home, we need to ask some questions about the $100 million which was generously donated towards the World Youth Day celebrations on our behalf.

2. Every taxpayer has a stake in the fate of property which has been tax-free for many years. The church has only a limited moral right to sell such property outright to pay for the damage done by criminal priests.