The problem is, the next Pope will be elected by people with the same mindset.

That's the spirit! Negativity, hopelessness, and despair are the right attitude for a Catholic! Anybody who knows ANYTHING about the Papacy knows that it is impossible for a Pope to influence the election of his successor, because as soon as the Pope is dead, any sense of loyalty that the cardinals had to him disappears, as should be the case. This is why there is the saying "a fat Pope follows a thin Pope" because the conclave wants to elect someone who is the exact opposite of the last Pope. If this was not the case, Francis could never have been elected at all. He was elected because the conclave was looking for someone different from Benedict. And the longer the pontificate, the greater the desire to break in a new direction. And don't give me that "but Francis appointed most of the cardinals", John Paul II and Benedict elected ALL the cardinals in 2013, and they still elected Francis. In 1878, Pope Pius IX appointed every member of the college of cardinals, and they still elected his Leo XIII, his tempremental opposite
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If there was no soul and there was no afterlife... and there was no will that could be lead astray; then yeah: "So what?"

But if there are souls and an afterlife and leaders in the Church can lead people astray... then no, not "so what?".

So, you're consumed with despair until we have a perfect and flawless Pope? Does that really sound like a great plan? You are not responsible for everything, you may insist that the weight of the world must rest on your shoulders, but that isn't actually the right attitude, all you accomplish is to make yourself miserable.

Wishing for a "LIKE" button. Also, I agree with Doom ( )

I do get weary of the Chicken Little attitude that grips a segment of Catholics. We are supposed to be filled with joy and hope! Christ has overcome the world! God is still on the throne. If a person is feeling negative, hopeless, despair, turn OFF the outlets that are putting you in that mindset. Outrage bait is seductive, from Catholic sources as well as secular sources.

Watch the local weather report and turn off the rest. Try it for Lent.

I agree with Doom ( ) and Kage ( ).

We are way to cynical and tribal in our thinking these days. Thank you Tic-Toc, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and all the other platforms which create such social anxiety. Thank you too CNN, Foxnews, MSNBC and all you "news" networks for stirring folks up all the time.

The song "Head Full of Doubt" says it very well:

"There's a darkness upon me that's flooded in light
In the fine print they tell me what's wrong and what's right
And it comes in black and it comes in white
And I'm frightened by those that don't see it

When nothing is owed or deserved or expected
And your life doesn't change by the man that's elected
If you're loved by someone, you're never rejected
Decide what to be and go be it"

President Biden, Former President Trump, Pope Francis, Cardinal McCarrick, Gov'nor Desantis, Pope Bendict (RIP), Former Speaker Pelosi, et al - the stuff they do has little to no effect on how my life is being lived. Actually, its zero. Do I believe they are doing things to improve or ruin my country or religion? Do they cause scandal or set a good example? You bet, but none of it is long-term. Life is over in 70 or 80 years for those who are strong (Psalm 90).

Sitting on my couch yelling at the TV, arguing with neighbors, getting all bent about bad Bishops, writing angry comments to blogs or news articles ain't making me a better person and certainly ain't improving this world.

Greater is He who is in me than in the world.

Pray and move on.

I don't think anyone who has spiritual authority over others can "ignore" Pope Francis.

IMHO, there is a wide gap between reading updates at Vaticannews.va (the source I read) and spending time seeking out and stewing over what bloggers/opinion pieces/Catholic internet famous folks/secular outlets are saying about things from the Vatican/Pope.

One can stay informed while ignoring the "sky is falling" ideology that has a grip on some Catholics.

Part of my job is to stay informed and to brief my boss on things so when a despairing parishioner comes to him clutching pearls or printouts from various blogs, he knows what happened/was said and is able to put it in a perspective for that parishioner. He has a weekly public Q and A on Sundays, I make sure that he is not blindsided with some "news" item during that hour.

Pointing out problems is wrong? No wonder we have so many problems -- because the first step toward solving a problem is to recognize you HAVE a problem.

What happens when it can't be put into perspective

As I stated earlier, unless he says something binding on the faithful, I am not obligated to listen to him. This is especially true if what he says creates confusion or ambiguity.

So what happens when my kids come to me wondering why the Pope is saying things that don't align with what they've taught? Just tell them to ignore him?

We all have different challenges in our lifetime.

The Church teaches us faith and morals. Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us prayer and the sacraments to overcome our fallen nature. He shed every drop of His Blood for us. We have no excuses.

They need to know that not every word that comes out of the Pope's mouth is infallible.

The Pope needs our prayers.

You tell them that Papal infallibility doesn't mean Popes are perfect and without flaw, and it certainly doesn't mean that everything a Pope says and does is infallible and that if a Pope appears to contradict or obfuscate defined doctrine than he is simply wrong just as much as any laymen or theologian who said the same thing. And if this discourages the development of a Papal Cult of Personality, which has been a growing problem in the last few decades, all the better.

At any rate, I would say it is a very rare child who
a. Has such a deep understanding of the faith to be able to notice when a statement is ambiguous enough to cast doubt on it
b. Who so closely follows the Pope and his words that he would be able to ask intelligent questions about it

Yes.

I mean this quite seriously, but you really don’t know how to handle this problem?

Good news!!!

Pope Francis just found away to overcome the divide between Lutherans and Catholics. And it won’t require the uncomfortable approach of trying to make Lutherans Catholic… because he said we’ll just be able to find a “common path” that is wide enough for BOTH of us!

How wonderful. You don’t even need to be Catholic. And hey, if that path is wide enough for both Lutherans and Catholics maybe it’s wide enough for any belief at all? Maybe even no belief. Why bother with the rigidity of dusty old beliefs when you can just be you (hey, we’re told that it’s time the Church starts meeting people where they’re at) and that’s good enough. Besides, those Catholics who hold their faith to being the one, true, holy…. Pretty rigid if you ask me. And THAT type of Catholic is regularly excoriated by Pope Francis. And trying to “win” people over to Catholicism…. What did Pope Francis say about that? Oh yeah, he called it “pious nonsense”.

Doom, this is a silly way to twist what I said. “Consumed with despair”. I never said that. If I was consumed with despair I would simply give up. No, I’m calling out what needs to be called out. And I care about the souls of others. Others who are being led astray. Don’t be “consumed with conclusions” when you re-present my position.

I won’t delete my posts given that’s cowardly…
But I’m being incredibly uncharitable on this thread. This is not right of nor good for me.
I need to leave this topic alone. Cooler heads than mine….

Doom, I’m embarrassed on how I responded to you. I’ve always liked interacting with you. Sorry

This has happened with every pope, and when my kid was young or when I was in youth ministry, we would talk about how to find the original source. We would then compare that to the "pull quotes" that were used in the article. We would look at various media sources to see how spin could go many different ways. We would talk about infallibility vs perfection.