I do hope that the Pope will recover from his current ill health. As much as I disagree with almost everything he says, I still have the upmost respect for someone who can have such amazingly strong faith. It sounds critical to say that someone has faith despite clear scientific evidence against their beliefs (just as the Pope believes that condoms do not prevent HIV transmission), and yet, in actual fact, that is a truly amazing feat for such an intelligent and learned man.

How many people believe in things only up until the point that modern science proves them wrong? The vast majority. It takes something very special to overlook scientific progress, and still stick to your beliefs. In some cases, it can be due to a lack of education and a certain amount of brain-washing, but the Pope is certainly not uneducated, which suggests he has a phenomenal, unwavering faith.

As much as I disagree with his ideas on condom use and gay marriage, I still find some people’s comments on many internet forums (such as this one) most disturbing:

Yeah but this is a man who’s done almost as much damage to the world as Hitler, so we’d be better off without him. By his insistence on Catholics not using condoms he’s sentenced millions to death through AIDS.

How can anyone even begin to compare someone suggesting what those who choose to be members of a religion may like to do in their daily lives to genocide? As many times as I read that quotation, it still shocks me.

The Pope is an amazing man, and I hope he recovers fully and expediently.