I agree with bug B . it would have been the best PR for the church.

this Pope or for that matter any Pope last 50 years is being forced whether they like it or not to accept the Message of Baha’u’llah. I know this must come hard for the poor informed. Anyone with an open mind can see the ever growing influence the Revelation of Baha’u’llah is have not just the Catholic Church but the world. As Baha’u’ llah Letter to the Pope starts out,”O Pope! Rend the veils asunder” .The Leaders of The Vatican since Pope John,XXIII, have felt the ringing of this New Spirit operating in the World. The Pacem in Terris that Pope John delivered to the United Nations in April, 1963, was a straight ‘lifting’ from the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. As for the Pope travelling out from the Vatican Palace is this not what Baha’u’llah told him to do,” O Supreme Pontiff! Incline thine ear unto that which the Fashioner of mouldering bones counselleth thee, as voiced by Him Who is His Most Great Name. Sell all the embellished ornaments thou dost possess, and expend them in the path of God, Who causeth the night to return upon the day, and the day to return upon the night. Abandon thy kingdom unto the kings, and emerge from thy habitation…” To those readers of this post that desire to read the Letter to the Pope, you can at this site: http://www.bahai-library.org/writings/bahaullah/pb/13.html

I was absolutely entranced with listening to the Holy Father speak at the various events. He is extremely intelligent and I think it shows in his upfront approach to the various Church scandals. I am not a cradle Catholic but rather a convert, and I came close to tears watching him connect with people. I wish he would have gone to other cities, like in the south!!

The Pope should stay home. Some of the most powerful human teachings come from religious texts, we should study them. But people who beleive in fairy tales we ave enogh of already.

What made the Papal visit so imporant is not so much what he said,how many events he attended nor how many cities he marathoned. What made it important was that he personally availed himself to North America and made a personal appearance to his people here. He is an elderly man unlike JPII at the start of his papacy,and so demands for more cities in a few days time might be unrealistic for him. CHN

Ideally, yes. But, given the pope’s age and his itinerary just for New York, i don’t think he would be able to do more cities this trip. Perhaps, next year he will visit other cities, particularly where the Catholic population is many.

What really pissed me off is to see good ole Rudy in the VIP area at St. Pats. Why couldn’t we have working class people, poor people or disable people in the VIP area. Wasn’t the mass at St. Pats for the clergy only? Who were those people anyway. I tell ya, class and privilege gets you everywhere. Ordinary people, working class people and the poor does not matter.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t think the wording of the question was good. “Should”, in my mind, implies that he had the obligation to visit more cities. I think a better question might have been “Would you have liked the Pope to have visited more cities?” As to the answer, I have to confess to not being glued to the TV for the coverage, although I know people who were, so basically, it didn’t make any difference to me, one way or the other. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for the position and the individual who fills it. I’m just not a follower of celebrity of any kind.

WHO CARES??????????

Barbara - if you followed the Dalai Lama’s advice as posted, then you’d still be Catholic? though I will admit, if there is reincarnation, I hope I come back as a Buddhist monk (hopefully in a peaceful country) I was glad he came and I was happy to hear the victim’s response to their meeting with him - it’s not up to us if his visit helped the abuse horrors, it’s up to those victims and they seemed (anyway) to feel like he listened to them - and he did supposedly meet with the Bishops to give them a ration or 2 about their mismanagement - personally, I think Cardinal Law should be in jail for what he did and I almost left the Church because of it and then my Mom reminded me that my faith is my faith and no one should have the power to change that - luckily I am attending a more liberal parish (there are still some of us left from the Kennedy years) so it’s pro-all-life and not just babies… the Church, throughout history has done some pretty dumb things that have rightfully caused rebellions, schisms, and even wars - but what we forget is that despite the infallibility of the Pope, the Church is made up of humans and humans are imperfect - so it stands to reason, and statistically, that given our size in population, that we will continue to mess up in likely whole new dumb ways as we move forward so there are a lot of things in the Church I wish would change but I respect the tradition and history and that things take time I am rambling, I know, as this visit has made me think about what I’m doing and where I sit with the Church, faith takes alot of work - if you never question it, it doesn’t have a lot of meaning what else is confusing is the amount of Catholic-bashing there has been this past week and some with real anger - isn’t it amazing in this age of diversity that you can still bash Catholics?

it’s not like he is running for office. the man is 81 years of age. you would have him running around the country confusing the sunni’s with the shia?

Criticizing the Catholic hierarchy is not “Catholic bashing.” People know there is something wrong and want answers. If you think the church has responded appropriately for all of the abuses the clergy has visited upon children around the world for eons you have another think coming. The USA was just a drop in the bucket of abuses. Abuses that went on in the Philippines, Spain, the Caribbean etc. have yet to be addressed, but don’t hold your breath. Sure, sure I know about the good priests but remember, a lot of these “innocent” priests knew what was going on but said nothing and did nothing. Jay Bocchicchio

His visit was beautiful. Many thought he would be too “preachy” when in fact he was most loving. I hope the Church finds a way to welcome those of us who have a hard time following all the doctrines. I have seen so many people receive Communion that I personally know do not follow doctrine.