I am sorry, I cannot figure this out at all. Here is a man who has systematically betrayed the legacy of Vatican II, centralized the church as no one has for the last hundred years, stifled criticism, especially the Latin American social justice movement almost singlehanded, and has about as much relevance to today's youth as the Lone Ranger has to nuclear physics. What possesses young women to flock to this guy, the single most powerful stumbling block to equality in their own church, not to mention control over their own bodies? They are abandoning everything he says about them as fast as they can. I cannot fathom it at all, except that it is celebrity, and nothing is as exciting to young people today as celebrity.

But of course I welcome him to our fair city. We welcome all kinds -- I particularly enjoyed the international Shriners Convention last year, full of old men in shiny outfits and funny hats, sort of like cardinals but without the Latin. I am only sorry His Holiness missed the Gay and Lesbian Parade a couple of weeks ago. He might have learned a few things post 1500 A.D.

yours, Peter T.