Sometimes I almost feel sorry for the Pope.  He’s so prone to gaffes and cock-ups he comes across like an ecclesiastical version of Prince Philip – travelling round the world telling people what godless arsewipes they are, then seeming totally bemused when they don’t like it.  He’s just been at it again, bless him – as a helpful warm up to his September visit to Britain, he’s claimed that our equality laws “violate the natural law on which the equality of all human beings is grounded”.

Why, I wonder, has he chosen to stick his oar in on this particular subject?  I suspect he fears that it’s the thin end of the wedge – if we allow national laws to encroach on the church’s own internal governance, then what is to stop them ultimately overriding canon law altogether?  The church’s ability, say, to refuse women ordination then might be threatened.  Given the revelations of the past decade, it’s hard to sympathise with a church defending its right to make its own rules.  Its years of covering-up for paedophile priests shows what happens when you let any powerful organisation act as if the defence of its own power is more important than the law.

It’s far easier, however, to sympathise with the large body of decent, questioning Catholics out there.  Wedged between the antiquated fundamentalism of the Vatican on one side, and sneering, simplistic atheists who think repeating clichés about the “sky fairy” is the height of sophisticated wit on the other, they’re pretty stuck.  It’s too easy to dismiss the strength that the Catholic Church – and religion as a rule – has given these people.  Granted, it’s been guilty of hypocrisy, genocide, cruel repression and cosying up to tyrants – hardly a roll call of honours.  But it has also provided education, support, healthcare and moral support over centuries, giving hope to millions of people who badly needed it.  To give up the consolation of the church would be devastating to many people who nonetheless believe in equality – including the countless LGBTs who have always formed such an important part of its life (it’s ironic that an organisation so critical of gays should be so full of them).  It must be painful for them to hear the pope stumbling ever further away from a vision of the church in which they could find peace.   Catholicism isn’t going go away any time soon, so let’s remember that there is the possibility of a more liberal, generous church lurking somewhere behind that old fool wearing a frumpy wedding dress.

(Oh, and for the record, I am not a christian)

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