Being that you are next in line to the Almighty, I am not going to be fresh neither will I try to economize the truth.

I will start by telling you that you are not my Pope. Nothing personal, your holiness. Everyone has just a primary Pope in a lifetime. Mine was your predecessor, Pope John Paul II. The primary Pope is usually the Pope that first captures anyone’s imagination. After that Pope, subsequent ones look like mere substitute Popes.

It does not help that I watched the papal conclave from outside as the Cardinals played the dice that saw you, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, emerge after the smoke as the 265^th successor to St Peter on April 19, 2005. I had thought that the Catholic Church would do the right thing and change the world by making a cardinal from Africa or Latin America Pope. I had hoped that the Pope would come from those people who still go to church.

Don’t worry about me, though. For many millions who did not know John Paul II, you will be their Pope. They will look up to you to change their world. They will line up the street, storm the stadium, kiss your hand, and hang on every word you say. Many will be your groupies. It is the nature of the business.

I write you today for one simply reason – Just like John Paul made his mark as an anti-communist crusader, your job is already cut out for you as an anti-Islamic fundamentalist crusader. You have no choice in the matter. I know you recognized it for I heard what you said at Regensbury University in September 2006, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

I must tell you that I was disappointed that you backed down when the heat came on.

Dear Holy Father, Christ, as you well know, was killed on the cross for preaching the truth. You, too, should be ready for the sacrifice that comes with wearing the pallium and riding in the Popemobile. Each time you blink, fidget, or back down, the terrorists win.

Many have called you the apostle of reason. Tell me, Holy Father, what is the reason behind Catholic doctrine that prohibits the use of contraception like condom while still opposed to abortion? In this age of AIDS and world over population, why are you not revising it? Do you know that on your hands is the blood of many who die daily from AIDS and poverty? Why do you back abstinence only education, denying millions of teens vital sex education knowledge when even your priests could not keep their vow of celibacy? Why are you opposed to gay marriage when most sex abuses involving Catholic priests point to gay lifestyle?

Where is the reason in all that, Holy Father?

Recently, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited you at the Vatican. He woke up, hopped into his jet and landed at the Vatican. When are you going to visit him in Mecca? He visited the mosque in Rome, when will there be a church in Mecca or anywhere in Saudi Arabia?

As crazy as he was, when Benito Mussolini was approached by a group of Arab ambassadors informing him of their desire to build a mosque in Rome, the fascist ruler said to them, “There will be a mosque in Rome, only when a Roman Catholic Church is permitted in Mecca.”

Welcome to America, your holiness. We await your message. And it is our sincere hope that you will listen to us too. For as the saying goes, Vox populi, vox dei, the voice of the people is the voice of God. If you don’t, the status quo will remain – you keep saying whatever you like and we keep doing whatever we like.

Or, as you put it in that holiness lamentation of yours:

“Today, a particularly insidious obstacle to the task of education is the massive presence in our society and culture of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her own ego.”

Robot  Villager

# 1 Many have called you the apostle of reason. Tell me, Holy Father, what is th...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 15.04.2008 09:55

blondie  Villager

# 2 A question for you Mr. Okonkwo. What do you think is responsible for the rampaging spread of HIV? If you think the answer is the sexual permissiveness of the modern age then I will call you a bright chap but if you answer otherwise then you need to seek absolution. Your penance should be to write an essay in not more that 500 words the reasons behind the HIV scourge. On a serious note, what do you want from the Pope? To distribute condoms to teenagers so that they can go on sexual adventures as often as they want? The Pope is called the Vicar of Christ. Do you think that Christ would give teenagers free condoms? Or do you want him to declare a new Crusade against Saudi Arabia for daring to establish a mosque in Rome? Do you think Christ would do that? I think this author needs education on the difference between state and religion. The Pope is a religious leader not an American president. His primary calling is morality and purity. His master, Jesus Christ, preached and died for morality and purity. Why Mr Okonkwo wants him to deviate from this just because he wants teenagers to have a sexual spree beats me. Nobody puts a gun to anybody's head to be a Catholic or a Christian. There should be no half measures. If you can't adhere to their teachings please get the hell out. No fatwah will be placed on you. Abstinence is the best way to avoid AIDS and even the secular societies preach that. And I do not see anything wrong if the Pope asks Catholic adherents to stick to it. Posted by blondie| 15.04.2008 19:19

Chekereke  Villager

# 3 It's the thinking of people like this writer that has left our world in the state it is today. Mr. Okonkwo should please realize that the pope is the leader of millions of catholics all over the world, not just him (if at all he is catholic)! While conceeding his right to freedom of self expression, I'll like to refer him back to elementary cathecism (pages 1 to 30) to understand the meaning of the word "Pope". The pope is a spiritual leader, not a political one. His stands on issues have to be morally and biblically justified. That "everyone is doing it" does not make "it" right. The world is suffering from moral decadence today because everyone has "the right to choose". Fourteen year olds are having sex, gays are getting married, women are being ordained as priests, etc in clear violation of biblical principles, yet the world sees nothing wrong in these! I may not really be a christian, but I have a concience, nurtured by years of christian upbringing. What is wrong, is wrong, pure and simple! The use of condoms should be discouraged and abstinence promoted instead, because that is what the Holy Book says (infact almost all religious books-Koran, Torah, Book of Mormons, etc agree on the illegality of sex outside marriage). So some catholic priests have been guilty of seual offences, is it the popes fault? By the way, what percentage of priests have failed their vows? Is that enough to write off the catholic church and her doctrines? Yes when one finger touched oil, it soils the reat of the hand, but remember that Pope Benedict has vowed to eradicate that evil in the priesthood, and has continued campaigning against it. On the issue of fundamentalism, the Holy father quoted a 16th century book that was not written by him. That he apologized when the ruckus started only shows him to be a man of peace. Mr Okonkwo should also realise that if the pope were a muslim, this article he wrote would have earned him a fatwa! Pope John Paul II was enigmatic, Pope Benedict is pragmatic, but it will not remove anything from their papacy, for we have no right to judge, only God can! Posted by Chekereke| 16.04.2008 08:02

AISAGBON OMOGIADE  Villager

# 4 Mr.Okonkwo has the right to his opinion.He can freely express it where ever and whenever he likes.His letter to the Pope shows certain elements of a man struggling between accepting the doctrines of the catholic church and discarding them for the more liberal life-style in the USA.A serving Pope is the Pope to all catholics.One may have a softer spot for any previous one. There are better issues that need urgent solutions in the catholic church other than the issue of H I V apparently the product of an unbridled immoral life-style.The issue of men divorced from their wives through no faults of theirs remaining communicants has not been accepted by the church. Many say the world is in a perpetual state of flux where mores and tradition are discarded and new ones fashioned.The current Pope is a traditionalist and changes from the doctrines of the church may not be expected from him.As you know Mr. Okonkwo, the infallibility of the teachings of the Pope are "de fide credenda". Posted by AISAGBON OMOGIADE| 16.04.2008 10:46