Steve Shaw speaks of a Pope whose policies most severely affect the poorest people in the world.

I suppose Steve is talking about birth control. Last time I heard, the decision to give birth to a child is usually the result of the decision and action of one man and one woman. Since Alexander VI (1431-1503 - father of Lucretia and Cesare Borgia and many other children), few popes have had any direct involvement in the procreation of children.

Oh, I'm sure that church policy has an effect on population control attitudes and practices, especially in the declining number of areas where churches can successfully lobby governments to outlaw contraceptives. But I can't believe that church policy has ever been the primary reason why families have many or few children. Culture has a lot to do with it, too. But in the end, the choice is up to individuals.

I'm one of the few Catholics I know who actually knows what the Catholic Church teaches about sex and contraception. That being the case, I can't see how the Church can have the dramatic effect on these issues that Mr. Shaw and Mr. Maher seem to think it does.

-Joe Offer-