Some Catholics are Hypocritical

	1497.1
	With the recent passing of Pope John Paul II, many are wondering what the next Pope will be like. Many are hoping the that next Pope will have less conservative and traditional views on things like birth control, abortion, female priests, homosexualism, etc. I see a basic problem with this kind of thinking. Maybe the next Pope will be more liberal and thus will make some changes in these aspects of church law. But is it God's will for such changes to be made at this time, or is it the will of the people? Excuse me, but I was under the impression that the Pope was God's mouthpiece on earth, and not some kind of political leader that has to be popular with his subjects. I talk about hypocritical Catholics because I hear so many say, "I'm Catholic, but I disagree with this, that and the other thing". Or, "I"m Catholic, but I believe in birth control, or abortion, or whatever". I have said this before and will say it again, I do not think the Catholic Church (or any church, really), is supposed to be a democracy. A church...a real church anyway, is supposed to be run by God or His Spokesman (the Pope...or in the case of the LDS Church, the president and prophet of the church). It is run from the top down, not the bottom up. God commands us, not the other way around. He has not said, to my knowledge, that abortion, or same-sex marraige, or any of these other pressing issues of our time are anymore OK now than they were hundreds or thousands of years ago. To those who say "I'm Catholic, but I disagree with or don't believe whatever", I say would say, "you need to go to confession and then be more willing to follow your church leaders". Now I don't profess to be perfect or anything like that...far from it...I just feel that if someone professes to be a member of a church, that they should be willing to follow its teachings.